22º Halo takes their name from a term used to describe the optical phenomenon in which a roughly 22º Halo appears around the sun. You can look up a picture of it – you’ll see a thin, bright, beautiful ring of light against a clear sky. How else would you describe 22º Halo’s music? It’s sunny, it’s cute, it’s stunningly beautiful. The band made waves with their first two releases, 22º Halo and Garden Bed; now, they’ve announced their third record, Lily of the Valley, and with it comes the new single “Virtual You,” a masterwork of mid-fidelity indie pop that’s delivered with the unassuming frailty of a Sufjan Stevens song.
Hushed vocals, pitter-patter drumming, ever-so-slightly dissonant harmonics coming through a clean, treble-y amp; it’s almost radically understated, but who needs bombast when you’ve got a fantastic melody and some wonderfully melancholy lyrics? This is a song I want to hug and kiss. It’s quiet, it’s unassuming, it’s perfect. And don’t sleep on their single from earlier in the year, “Bird Sanctuary,” which they’ve repurposed as the opener to Lily of the Valley.
22º Halo plays at Johnny Brenda’s on 9/13; check out “Virtual You” and “Bird Sanctuary” below.