Snakadaktal

Employing a texture-heavy blend of chillwave, shimmery dream pop, and dancefloor-ready indie electronic, alliterative Melbourne-based quintet Snakadaktal, with their boy-girl vocals and quirky conceptual nuances, fell somewhere between the icy minimalist pop of the xx and the colorful hedonism of fellow Aussies Empire of the Sun. Formed in 2010 around the talents of Phoebe Cockburn (vocals, synthesizers), Sean Heathcliff (vocals, guitar, synthesizers), Joseph Clough (guitar), Jarrah McCarty-Smith (bass), and Barna Nemeth (drums), the band issued an eponymous debut EP in 2011 through the Australian indie I Oh You. The group's debut long-player for the label, Sleep in the Water, arrived in 2013, but despite earning accolades both regionally and beyond, the band decided to call it quits. A posthumous EP of demos and unreleased material called Treasures (2010-2014) arrived the following year. ~ James Christopher Monger