The Diet (LP)

From the guitar that drops out of the sky on the opening track "Four Years" all the way through the fade-out of kaleidoscopic closer "A Real You," The Diet is a powerful modern indie-rock album that is buoyed by warped, analog pedals/transistors and tailor-made guitar tones. Omori's winsome vocals crisscross 70's art rock and classic songwriting all within the span of 40 minutes.

After relocating from Chicago to Los Angeles in 2016, Cullen Omori re-examined his whole artistic process. "Whereas on [Omori's 2016 Sub Pop debut] New Misery I was locked in a room with a producer for a month tinkering away, this time around I wanted the sessions to be a revolving door of musicians: different people, different aesthetics. I pushed against my inner nature by actively pursuing collaborators".

The Diet represents a new chapter for the former Smith Westerns member, one in which he stretches out his songwriting chops and uses his life experience to craft loose-limbed, hook-filled songs that combine pop appeal with finely sutured lyrics.