Icy Demons, the Chicago-based side-project from Man Man drummer Pow Pow (a.k.a. Christopher Powell) and bassist Blue Hawaii (a.k.a. Griffin Rodriguez), radiate psyched-electro colour swirls and bedroom production far more comparable to Black Moth Super Rainbow than the organic pirate-thump of Powell’s regular gig. Even the cover art for their third release, Miami Ice — resembling boredom-induced sketches from the margins of a high-school notebook — is indicative of the blissfully naïve song-craft contained within. It’s all kind of amateurish, but a flair for bent melodies, clever genre-jam instrumentation (“Summer Samba”), jazz fusion grooves (“Jantar Mantar”) and saccharine synth-pop (“Miami Ice”) makes for an ingenious mix of eclectic textures. Though the charm begins to wane by the record’s final two tracks, serving Miami Ice with a splash of electric Kool-Aid may prevent the magic from melting too quickly.

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