SG73: COOL HEAT - Abandon [LP]
COOL HEAT is the solo project of Chicago-based musician and photographer Eden Sierotnik. His sophomore album Abandon - follow up to his remarkable debut album Nowhere released back in 2022 as well as his EP Permanence released last summer - is a meticulous, maximalist, modern collection of dream pop that, in its seamless oscillation between shoegaze, coldwave, and synthwave, represents something like endlessness. However, rather than terse finality, Sierotnik instead frames this endlessness as an expanse of potential.
The tracks shimmer; “Other Side,” “Surrender,” and “Undertow,” in particular, show off a highly nuanced take on the genre. Sierotnik’s vocals throughout the release, akin to a ghostly presence burned into a television screen, helps in creating an ephemeral atmosphere, bringing more meaning to the title of the track – a resignation, a concession, an acquiescence to something like fate, no matter how painful it may be.
SG73: COOL HEAT - Abandon [LP]