Written by Sandeep Sehbi

I ran into iji last night. They were lying in their sleeping bags with smiles on their faces at the space formerly known as Casper House, a new DIY space here in Columbus, Ohio. This is a review of some of the songs off their album ‘Whatever Will Happen’.

The first song that comes on the Bandcamp is a sunny song called “Hard to Wait.” Its reminiscent of the 70’s. I say that because of the strings, because of the chanted “Hard hard hard to wait, wait wait wait.” There’s a saxophone part that really emphasizes the vibe. Its retro, in a very chill way. Perhaps you could call it jangle pop?

I helped book their show here in town yesterday. The day before iji had just played a town over with well known Columbus locals Betsy Ross. We really do have a really supportive network of people in this DIY scene. They all came together to make this show happen. Cheers to Lou and Madeleine!

“Parking Lot Palms” is the second song that plays on their Bandcamp stream page. Its got that same sunny disposition, with a hint of that retro, a hint of that psych sound. Tomorrow they play Chicago. I used to live in Skokie, IL, which is like 3 or 4 exits north of downtown Chicago, anytime I hear that cities name my ears perk up.

The chilled-outed-ness is permeated by some frantic and well played guitar work, reminiscent of Broken Social Scene. Baroque pop, I believe is the term that a lot of people like to use for that sound. I regretfully was not able to make their show last night, but iji was in good company, and I wish them well on the rest of their journey.