Longtime friends and collaborators Marina Aguerre and Lionel “Vinyl” Williams came together in 2019 and formed Teal Pop, an indie psychedelic-pop duo inspired by artists like Stereolab, Broadcast, Enya and more. They use their peaceful and transcendent music to explore what it means to simply exist in what they refer to as melancholy bliss. Teal Pop will be performing at the Grand Annex Music Hall with Double Wish on November 18 as part of the Grand Vision Foundation Fall 2023 Season.
On Friday, October 6, Teal Pop released their self-titled debut album, which is available to download and stream on all music services. This highly anticipated album features the band’s popular singles Aptos, Serenity Cove and Island Architect, along with 7 other new songs to love. With each track, Aguerre’s dreamy vocals – reminiscent of Lana Del Rey – and Williams’ futuristic retro-synth instrumentals made me feel like I was floating off the ground, and I am honored to be among the first to review my sonic journey with Teal Pop’s new album.
“Teal Pop” develops a narrative about a tropical island dream world where people can escape the mundanity of society and experience a fulfilled existence. Each song’s lyrics follow a breezy beach theme of relaxation and/or a deeply introspective theme of complex emotions. Sugar Stingray, for example, paints a mental picture of a day in Surf City, with lyrics like “wordless speaking (speaking no words) like deep ocean diving (or float in the air),” while an easygoing guitar riff plays in the background.
On a more vague note, the song Nothing resembles an inner monologue of someone deep in meditation, perhaps while sitting on the island’s shores: “Nothing / Looking up at the / Something / No one said it was / Nothing / No thing / Not thing / No.” These chant-like thoughts continue to unfold this idea, but the listener doesn’t get to hear the end result. Instead, Aguerre leaves us to come to our own conclusions, assuring that, “one day you will know how it feels.”
Overall, Teal Pop’s debut album is a vibey and delightfully hypnotic dreamscape. Its soothing grooves and rejuvenating rhythms are a perfect backdrop to anything from your morning commute to dinner with friends, and at the same time, its deeply thought-provoking and poetic lyrics can inspire your own philosophical musings. I, along with the rest of the Grand Vision team, can’t wait to see what lies in store for Marina Aguerre and Vinyl Williams as Teal Pop.
