Enter Glasser’s whimsical electro-pop world as the Boston-born, Bay Area-based artist unveils her latest album, crux. With a blend of dreamy experimental pop and layered electronics, she explores themes of personal identity, emotional vulnerability, and the human experience in this new musical project that marks a return following her sublime “Sextape” mix in 2018 and two critically acclaimed albums, “Ring” and “Interiors,” released in 2010 and 2013, respectively.

“Just getting back to making songs was hard for me after the last album,” she says when talking about the hiatus. “When I made my first album, I didn’t have an established routine of trying and failing; it was very immediate. The second record was made after a few years of touring, which is a very unstable life, and I still didn’t establish a relationship with creating things regularly. After its release, I didn’t have a centre from which to recompose myself.”

crux is a complex sonic experience. The first track, “A Guide,” sets the tone for what feels like a kaleidoscopic journey through Glasser’s music, moving towards goosebump-worthy trance beats that immediately make you want to move, setting the artist as a potent rising voice in the alt-pop scene. “Vine,” the second tune and the first single to be released, shows a different side of her artistry, with deeper glitchy left-field elements; it’s epic in scope, with ambitious, expansive synths and strings, and infectious melodies, also felt in other tunes as the album grows, such as in “Knave” and “Mass Love”.

“‘Vine’ was written a long time ago. It was like an attempt at making something where all the parts sound like they’re very separated. I was thinking like jazz, actually. It was about getting back to writing music after feeling a bit disconnected from the machinery around making it your profession,” she shares.

“All Lovers” is another one of the songs that teased the album release, a more profound and almost dark take on her craft as we move towards the other end of the track list. Then, listeners are introduced to “Undrunk,” an involving and romantic sound, drenched in what feels almost like a lounge-y set of notes.

Towards the end of the album experience, we feel a slight vibe-shift in “Drift” and “Ophrys,” a more ritualistic and cult energy that definitely sets the ground for the explosion that is the closing track, “Choir Prayer”. The album is a cathartic-inducing masterpiece to be listened to with bare ears and an open heart, that immediately makes us crave the richness of solitude, introspection and self-discovery.

Listen to crux…