reviewed by Elena Gritzan

Uaxyacac’s band name (it’s pronounced O-ha-ka) comes from a southern Mexican state. University of Moncton music grad Nick Smith first came across the word at the age of 13 in Gary Jennings’ Aztec, describing a tribe with a melodic and tone-based language. He promptly made it his Hotmail handle.

The idea of melody in language stuck with him and informed this eventual musical project with Montreal’s Denis Mazerolle and Miguel Marcil-Pitre. Double Seeker is synth music endowed with rich tones and a strong sense of melody, topped with beautiful and sometimes heartbreaking lyrics. They describe the EP as “inward-facing music for slowly-swaying night owls,” and this owl can picture slowly dancing while gazing through a telescope at celestial bodies with this as a soundtrack.

I get the overwhelming sense that this is a break-up record. It opens with “Don’t Let It Go,” which details staring at an estranged lover’s back mentally fighting to hold on, but knowing that the relationship will change unless you do. The songs that follow get a bit more desperate, throwing in lines about “needing the love” of someone who is gone, and peaks in the mental image of teeth knashing at your brain bits, the pain is so strong. Even the metaphorical “Two Stones” talks about grass withering and turning brown, much like the fate of the narrator’s heart.

You can hear the pain in the instrumentals, with echo-y ghost voices making quick appearances, though you could be forgiven for mistaking this as a straightforward dark synth pop record. The hooks are good enough to distract you from everything else going on.

Rating: Strong Hoot (Good)

Top Tracks: “Teeth,” “Double Seeker.”