With only two releases to his name, LA-based singer-songwriter Zooey Celeste has already been through as many musical guises. Starting out with wispy, whispered intimacy, his 2019 self-titled debut EP gestured towards the gentle music of indie stalwart Sufjan Stevens. Four years on, he has been searching for a new, more grandiose sound. Spending his time surfing big waves in Hawaii (and almost getting seriously injured after crashing into a coral reef), as well as reconnecting with old friends such as musician and producer Nick Hakim, Celeste’s debut album arrives as a brash statement of intent.
Partly inspired by a psychedelic novel he’s writing, Restless Thoughts supplants the plaintive strummed guitar and acoustic drums of his EP with sparse, metallic drum machines, drone-driven twangs of strings and his distinctive baritone voice. Celeste is supremely confident in this cohesive and emphatic new soundscape, whether he’s intoning “I want to be free” against 80s new wave synths on Big Trouble, channelling Ian Curtis on the minimal thump of the title track, or yearning over the grungy guitars of Torture Me. “I went as far as I could with the process of self-exploration,” he has said. “It was almost like everything was fated, or we were tapping into something in the ether.” It’s an act of experimentation that has paid off, producing a fresh voice for an artist already capable of remarkable shapeshifting.
Restless Thoughts is out now on ATO
