Reservoir have erred on emo's somewhat gruffer side to good form for a few EPs now, but Cicurina Vol. 1, despite being on its lighter side, is their best stuff yet. The quartet develop layered, twinkly songs in the Christie Front Drive/Mineral vein, though at times, like on nearly seven-minute opener "Breathe Disaster," it's actually quite driving. On this track, there's a throaty "chorus" providing a strong dynamic to some sort of tense-sounding key choice in the opening "verse," air quotes applied because the song isn't really following any sort of set structure. It moves from one relatively unique section to another, and despite avoiding a familiar framework, it sounds pretty cohesive and it's definitely enjoyable, with an elongated outro.

"Waves Erase" is another of the fairly longer tracks here, helping make up a hefty Side A with hooks that could be described just shy of "soaring," notably on this one. The vocals provide tasteful placesetting, and when the song picks up, the angst is subtle enough not to cheese up the atmosphere at all. Some of the secondary vocals remind me of My Heart to Joy, and there's female accompaniment amid a pulsing takeout.

Side B features more co-ed singing, and even a bit of slowcore vibes on "Beyond the Red." The genre mish-mashing isn't terribly surprising given a record like End:Serenading probably providing a little influence, but it's cool nonetheless, with some distinct guitar textures going on too that remind me a little bit of a downtempo Neutral Milk Hotel. Closer "Gardens" is more bread-and-butter '90s-style emo just done well.

Reservoir seem to be hitting a nice stride as they progress and tinker with their own take on emo revival. Cicurina is quite good and promising all at once.

You can check it out here.