On his new album 2. No Wave Gaze, Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist Jason Vitelli crafts a visceral “optical illusion for the ears.” This fifth release bridges decades of creative instinct with modern sound design, utilizing homemade instruments and Fibonacci-based sequences to craft a haunting, Expressionist soundscape that pays homage to the experimental, anti-commercial spirit of late ’70s New York City “No Wave” while also challenging conventional perceptions of melodic correctness.

“Standing at Your Doorstep” quickly showcases the album’s penchant for captivating soundscapes. Cricket sounds and a ringing telephone set an everyday type of scene, bolstered by an amiable vocal that picks up the call. A more unsettling presence exudes from the sounds of heavy breathing alongside, with that intrigue continuing amidst vibrant piano and flourishing strings. The ensuing “Homicidal Tendencies” embraces a sense of tension — merely hinted at in the opener’s heavy breathing — as stomping percussion and gunshot-like intensity venture into bursts of charisma, with brass, brisk percussion, and a wartime resemblance in its carriage-like movements.

The album continues to dazzle in its array of soundscapes thereafter, from the intoxicating mixture of pit-pattering rhythms and nocturnal synths within “Marked for Oblivion” to the minimalist, eerily quivering “Like Herding Cats” and the discombobulated, fragmented unease of “Asimov’s Robots” — blending gibberish vocal touches with slowly simmering instrumentation. “The Black Lodge” is another gem, delectably dark and foreboding in its brooding textures, and aptly Lynchian in its namesake. Finale “A Piece of a Sing Along” concludes it all with sating impact, the only track with lead vocals, and consuming as such in its blend of original vocal takes (from over two decades ago) and a modern falsetto overdub. Succeeding across a variety of moods and realms, No Wave Gaze is an inventively atmospheric triumph from Jason Vitelli.

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“Marked for Oblivion” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.

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