Lots of things about Los Angeles’ Draag hint that they’d like to be perceived as darker/gothier/heavier than they are – album and song titles sound like they would talk at length about their level 30 half-elf figher-magic user, given the chance, but musically, they’re just too pretty to pull it off.

That’s not a slight, by the way. I find too many American shoegaze-rooted acts to equate sludgey with emotive and just bore me. Draag aren’t afraid to lean into effervescent electronic textures and buyoant melodies, and they offer an effective contrast to some of the more emotionally heavy lyrical content.

They just-released Actually, the quiet is nice, a six-song EP that follows up last year’s full-length debut Dark Fire Heresy and while it’s just as eclectic as the long-player, I find it to hang together better and is a more compelling listen. Or maybe I just a shorter attention span these days.