Exploding Flowers are back, and the LA power-pop crew just dropped their new album Alphabet Window. Stream it now.
These guys have been chasing that jangle for a while now, stacking chiming guitars and dreamy melodies into something warm and bright. If you caught their earlier self-titled work, you already know the drill: 12-string shimmer, Paisley Underground echoes, a little Rain Parade haze pulled into the sunlight.
Alphabet Window feels like the next step. The hooks hit harder, the arrangements breathe, and the whole thing moves with the kind of easy confidence a band earns across years of playing together. It's a stunner front to back.
LA has always had room for this sound, from the Byrds through the Bangles, and Exploding Flowers slot right into that lineage without sounding like a tribute act. They know the history. They just keep pushing it forward.
Put this one on, let it ring out, and turn it up. A proper gem.