Natalie Lew is the artist behind this Seattle based project, named after an acid-yellow sea slug that frequents Puget Sound. She grew up playing piano but switched to guitar after dabbling with a NYC roommate’s guitars. Lew returned to the Pacific Northwest early in the pandemic and wrote her first songs in lock down. This became her 2022 EP called Close Up, and she has returned in 2023 with the terrific Stop At Nothing EP.
She collaborated on this outing with Jackson Phillips (Day Wave) who co-wrote some of the songs and contributed vocals to ‘Breakdown’. It is a lovely slice of dream pop, somewhat rain-washed but with glimmers of light breaking through.
The album hovers between gentle indie pop (the effervescent ‘3A’), bittersweet dream pop (‘Breakdown’), and the psych-infused shoegaze masterpiece of ‘Cellar’. It has hooks that will reel you in and contains the requisite gauzy layers meshed with kickin’ guitar lines. ‘Dramatic’ is another gorgeous tune, with stunning harmonies sailing through the mix. The melody is all sweetness and light, but don’t be fooled. T
here is some real angst and weight to all these tunes, so pay careful attention to the lyrics. The final ‘Vaporized’ has fleeting bits that remind one of The Cure, but the rest is Lew’s sweet voice tying this release up in a beautiful bow. Highly recommended!
