Like its title suggests, Seashell Angel Lucky Charm is a treasure. Glittering trinkets strung on a bracelet in the form of six songs, their raw intimacy inviting you to clutch them close.
Longtime collaborators Simon Lam and Hamish Mitchell bring a depth of experience to their band Armlock. Their 2021 debut Trust channeled bedroom indie à la Alex G: guitar parts straightforward in execution but fine-tuned for maximum feeling. Seashell Angel Lucky Charm is knotted into an even more beautiful latticework, nostalgic Casio-piano keys intertwined with dual vocals as close and warm as a hot breath on your ear.
Wistful, but also emotionally vulnerable and nervy in the way the world of emo music is. You can almost picture lead singer Simon’s mouth pressed as close as possible up to the mic, open only the smallest amount necessary, the most internal of thoughts, ever just slipping out into the world.
The tracks on Seashell Angel Lucky Charm often threaten to break out of their perfectly calibrated binding, adorned with digital noise that shimmers but takes slightly anxious turns. It tracks with the lyrical concerns of the record, flickering song to song between giddy yearning and spurned hurt. Armlock deliver both extremes with the same driving steadiness, not dispassionately but deliberately, understanding that the masks we wear are not always reality.
On ‘Guardian’, Liam sings of looking for signs: of angel numbers, and running a bath “just to watch it flow.” Look closely, and maybe you’ll see those signs in Seashell Angel Lucky Charm too.
Words by Lindsay Riley