The guitar and rhythm of “Big Sis,” the new track from Orlando’s SALES, come in slowly. Having arrived, they’re reverb-drenched and methodical. Lauren Morgan and Jordan Shih, the duo behind SALES, have—like the best shoegazers—crafted an all-encompassing sonic atmosphere where subtle textural shifts evoke the sun-drenched topography of their home state.
Like Britain’s Ride, SALES layers ethereal effects and indistinguishable vocals together to obscure and enhance the catchy track at the core of “Big Sis.” It’s a song whose catchy structure doesn’t vary much in either tempo or dynamic. Instead, variations in rhythm, wetness of reverb, and soft delays slosh like water around vocals that surface only when the waves of sound ebb. Mentions of too-big clothes and a desire to emulate—“because you want to be like your big sis”—are legible, but the tone is conversational and languid. Deliberately non-deliberate, “Big Sis” paradoxically demands multiple listens by virtue of its non-confrontational tone.
Though its route is unique, “Big Sis,” with its sweet tones and indecipherable layers, is as catchy a pop song as any you’ve heard this summer. It’s SALES’s first release since last year’s eponymous EP. You can stream it below.
