Partial Traces play pop-inspired keyboard rock – but not at all the kind you imagine when you hear those words. In pop songs, the keyboard generally brings melodrama or atmosphere. In Partial Traces, those two ideas meet in the middle. It’s emotional and serious, but instead of dramatic, it’s tonal. It feels real and authentic, which largely comes from the drums, which add a human nuance to the otherworldly sounds.
The overall vibe is a delicate balance between distant, synthesized melody with stark, personal human emotion. This sounds melodramatic, but there’s a true working-folk proletarian vibe that permeates through the softer sounds; a subtle toughness and fighting spirit. The melodies themselves are touching, but with a world worn edge to it. While the lyrics are mostly first person, there’s a sense that it’s about the royal we instead of just the singer’s (Maren Macosko) experiences, moving with an ebb and flow that’s often driven by the guitar.
Wild Surf/Quiet Blues itself is bookended, starting with “Quiet Blues” and ending with “Wild Surf,” reversed in order from the album title, which symbolizes the crashing of waves and the back and forth, cyclical theme. This record feels soothing and calm, but sometimes it crashes, bounces back and keeps hitting in similar but divergent patterns. The keyboard is a perfect tool for this: implying an unnatural symmetry when, in truth, it’s never quite predictable and always full of surprises that rise and fall like the tide, fading out at the end or…depending on your perspective, just getting started again. It’s tranquil, but full of uncertainty.
