Chicago indie-rockers Geronimo! played their final show in March 2015, and keyboardist Ben Grigg must’ve turned his attention to making solo recordings as soon as he got off the stage. He self-released his first EP as Whelpwisher in October of that year, and his output hasn’t slowed since: he’s been refining his sweet alt-rock tunes on a series of singles, EPs, and albums, and earlier this month he put out his 14th Bandcamp release, a full-length called Eerie Dearie. For much of the new album, Grigg uses shoegaze’s atmosphere-shifting whoosh and symphonic fuzz to magnify his pop reveries, but he’s restrained when it comes to applying the genre’s volume and muscle. He mapped out these songs with beguiling cunning, so that even when you sense an incoming climax on the horizon it can still sneak up on you. Grigg sings in a solemn, inviting whisper on most of Eerie Dearie, which draws you in close enough for the album’s high points to lift you up.
Whelpwisher’s Eerie Dearie is available through Bandcamp.