Egyptian Wrinkle (Bonus Track Version)

Sarah Brown and Christa Palazzolo's post-Sleep8Over project Boy Friend came together quickly, with a full-length album and several EPs and singles under their collective belt after just a year of making music on their own. While it's difficult not to compare the duo's work to Stefanie Franciotti's music as Sleep8Over, Egyptian Wrinkle shows that Brown and Palazzolo have their own take on dream pop. Songs such as "Bad Dream" and "Lazy Hunter" are more layered and polished, and less bedroom-bound than Franciotti's musings on Forever, even though both groups trade in similarly hazy heartbreak. Indeed, Egyptian Wrinkle feels steeped in loss, whether it's the breakup of a relationship or a band; the half-heard power ballad "Lovedropper" even begins with a lovelorn sigh. Yet there's more to the album than attractive moping. A sense of sci-fi/fantasy wonder runs through tracks like "The False Cross," revealing the duo's fondness for new age synth-master Ray Lynch; elsewhere, shades of Air and Beach House surface in Boy Friend's misty keyboards and guitars. Meanwhile, the dreamy ambience and innocent harmonies of "In Case" suggest a fusion of Wilson Phillips and the Cocteau Twins. At times, Egyptian Wrinkle's songs seem so soft that they might evaporate upon close listening, even though they leave shadowy impressions that might linger longer than a louder song would. However, there are hints that Brown and Palazzolo can bring more clarity to their music without sacrificing any atmosphere: the album's title track is a standout, injecting Boy Friend's sound with a drama and urgency that give shape to the duo's cloudy sounds. Interestingly, the album's connective songs also this potential. "Rogue Waves I" opens Egyptian Wrinkle like drifting into a dream, "Rogue Waves II" closes it by drifting out like a fog machine in reverse, and "Breathe" packs a surprising amount of majesty into its 80-some seconds. Given how fast Boy Friend came into being, it's not surprising that Egyptian Wrinkle sounds a little unformed at times, but Brown and Palazzolo are moving in an intriguing direction.