Reach out and touch grass. Is the secret to self-actualization on the other side of your bedroom window? That which was intended to bring us together is tearing us apart.

On Go Outside, Lust Online—the Oklahoma City dream-pop and synthpop quartet of Maddie Razook (vocals, synth), Lacey Elaine Dillard (bass, background vocal), Connor Schmigle (guitar, drum programming), and Donald James (drums)—asks listeners to step out of the blue-light haze and into a world of authentic feeling. As an opener, “Ms. Brightside” stifles the inner monologue for the sake of connection and mindful pleasures. The steady-rolling synths of “Go Now” long for whimsy and the freedom of untethered motion. While a warm bass and driving, wiggle-worthy rhythms make this album theband’s sunniest effort yet, there are welcome curveballs—see the metallic snap of “Prada 120” or the palpitating beat that underscores “Surreal Landscape.” Go Outside is of course an invitation into literal nature, but the prison of the mind can be as suffocating as any four walls. Comfort zones rarely foster growth. The challenge then is to forfeit familiar isolation for community or, as Maddie urges on the closing track, “blend, blend” with the wider world.

Indeed, Lust Online melts down rigid ego, melding the mind with surreal September skies and plugging listeners into a shared state of being. Part thesis, part mantra, part question, Go Outside offers a transformative sonic journey, brimming with lush reverberations, in under thirty minutes—solace amidst the chaos of modern existence. See you outside. -Ben Luschen

RIYL: New Order, Cocteau Twins, Broadcast, CCFX, Molly Nilsson

• Format Type: 12"
• Year: 2025