Lo Fi City Recordings artist Jake Borgemenke and Joey Joesph, of Pomegranates, have combined forces to create a shimmering, jangly, throwback pop album called Subliminal Clave. You wouldn’t know it by walking outside this week, but we’re still in the depths of winter - I’m wondering if maybe this album single handedly brought about spring.

Releasing Friday. February 24, the album consists of tracks collaboratively built out by each artist over the course of 3 months in 2022. Put together via text message and email, recorded independently at each of their home studios, then mixed and mastered by Joesph, Subliminal Clave is a quasi-psychadelic trip that somehow manages to take Borgemenke’s more straightforward approach to songwriting and mesh them seamlessly with Joesph’s hyper-pop sensibilities.

The end result? An album teeming with crystalline production, 60’s inspired guitar, and as mentioned above, a shimmering quality throughout that allows for two singer/songwriters who sound nothing alike to musically meld in a honestly fantastic way. I admit I was somewhat curious as to how this was going to both work and sound when I was made aware this particular pair was working together. Perhaps not so much skeptical, but very, very unsure as to what I should expect. I was pleasantly surprised - and then, of course, realized I shouldn’t have been. Regardless of their individual approach to their own music, the pair seem perfectly at home in eachother’s musical space. It’s both a testament to their own prowess, and a good indication that they’ve tapped into a super specific wavelength that somehow works for each of them, but together. Ah, harmony…

I hope that this isn’t the first and only collaboration we see between the two - I doubt they’ve even scratched the surface of how weird, fun, and entertaining what they create together can get.

Unfortunately, the limited edition cassette has already sold out, but you can still purchase and stream the album via Bandcamp right here.