If the point of dream pop is to take you somewhere surreal and seemingly unnatural, despite its largely organic roots, Still Life succeeds wildly. By using his voice as an instrument, Tortoriello is able to create something that succeeds for similar reasons Sylvan Esso’s debut does. Listen to I Won’t Bend — it’s a fantastic example of the way Tortoriello’s voice blends with the notes of the instruments around it. I also love Swing, Chevrotain, Still Life, and Discoloration.

Reportedly, Still Life took three years to write. It’s a downcast record all the way through, personal and isolated, and as Tortoriello disappears into the electronics, it becomes more than a parlour trick. By the end of the record, the loss of voice is the album’s most obvious metaphor.

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All of the greatness on this record comes from Little Dragon’s experience — this is their fourth record now — and from their innate sense of style. What makes Little Dragon great is their music’s intensity, and awareness of the live context. I love how each song on the record sounds like it’d be excellent live — it’s a different take on the electronic dance genre, that normally plays better when it’s performed on tape or by a DJ. Little Dragon is meant to play live.

Their experience with concerts definitely shines here. The singles are the most magnetic, energetic tracks on the record — the sort of thing Little Dragon would use to rile up a crowd. Paris is a great example of a song that relies on synths, but has the feel of a live band that would translate so well to a live audience.

Nabuma Rubberband is the sound of a band perfectly maturing and preparing for world domination. It’s a powerhouse of a record and a great sign of even more things to come as the band matures.

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Singer Amelia Meath’s dreamy voice and strange, but fascinating style takes off immediately in Hey Mami, but I think it really takes off with Wolf and Dress. Coffee and Play It Right are other standouts.

Producer Nick Sanborn, the other half of this duo, serves up a delicious serving of sparse synth tracks throughout the record, but it’s really in the way he matches the instrumentation (which often sound dark and melodramatic) with Meath’s voice. He’ll often layer her voice and use it as a backing track, letting Meath play off herself.

In a lot of ways, this isn’t too dissimilar from some of Timbaland’s production work — half the instruments are organic, and the other half are purely electronic. The organic instruments are almost entirely a cappella, or vocally driven. Despite the record being almost entirely synths-driven (and often very dark), it feels natural and warm as a result. The album is dense and intricate, but also sparse.

This stands up with Foxes’ Glorious and St. Vincent’s latest record for the best of 2014 for me, and I couldn’t recommend Sylvan Esso’s eponymous debut more. In working together to find widely-appealing sonic styles that both Meath and Sanborn are comfortable with, the duo has stumbled upon something original and impossibly endearing.

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It offers great choruses on songs like You Are a Metaphor, but it’s hard to say the record will catch on — the word that keeps coming back to me while I listen is “niche”. You probably already know if this sort of indie synth pop appeals to you. With slow builds like The Long Goodbye interspersed throughout, this album is both enjoyable and predictable — the Capsules aren’t breaking any new ground, but they are capturing a certain sound with magnificent aplomb.

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The album’s success lies in the group’s ability to perform atmospheric tracks within a synthetic, electronic genre. Each track fits a tone and atmosphere, and no two sound the same. What the band lacks in production they make up for with rich instrumentation that gives their lo-fi vocal work places to stretch out.

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