It Comes in Waves arrives after nearly a decade of New Constellations figuring themselves out in public. Most bands would have panicked long before then and dumped half-finished songs onto a streaming service with a blurry, “artsy” album cover, likely titled something eye-rolling like “transparency.” Of course, in lowercase, and accompanied by a whole paragraph on social media announcing the album and talking about their healing journey so that we can relate to them. But instead, Harlee Case and Josh Smith waited. And honestly? You can hear the difference.
For a duo that have spent years floating around the internet through standalone singles and algorithm-friendly dream-pop playlists, It Comes in Waves could easily have fallen into the same trap that many modern indie-pop records do: sounding beautiful while saying absolutely nothing.
The biggest strength the record has is that, beneath all the shimmering synths and hazy production, there’s a whole lot of pulse running through it. These songs are messy in a very human way. Relationships fall apart; people spiral; hope can be fleeting, but it can crawl back five minutes later. Nobody here walks away without anything figured out, which immediately makes it more interesting than half the emotionally detached “sad girl indie” records currently clogging my algorithm and playlists. I swear, enough is enough.
What makes the record work is that it never treats heartbreak like performance art. Even when Case is at her most dramatic, there is still self-awareness underneath it. The tracks are not interested in finding villains. Because again and again, the record comes back to the idea that relationships are mirrors. Sometimes you hurt people, sometimes they hurt you—Usually it’s both, to be honest.
That emotional maturity gives the record far more weight than its dreamy production lets on. In one minute, you’re floating in your head to the tracks, and the next, you’re actively listening to the lyrics, admiring the songwriting.
“I Disappear” captures the feeling of getting trapped inside your own head so completely that you stop existing in the present moment. The production slowly closes in around Case’s vocals without becoming overblown, which is impressive considering how easy it would have been for a track like this to disappear under layers of “aesthetic moodboards.” Meanwhile, “Dandelion” leans harder into nostalgia, sounding like the emotional climax of a coming-of-age movie for people who still text their ex when Mercury is in retrograde. Stop that right now, seriously.
Then there’s “I’m Waiting Now,” which completely blows the doors off the album emotionally. Up until that point, It Comes in Waves spends a lot of time thoughtfully processing heartbreak. “I’m Waiting Now” stops trying to be evolved about it for five minutes and falls apart instead. GOOD, the record needed that. Honestly, the track’s rawness cuts straight through the record at the right moment, keeping it from becoming too emotionally composed for its own good.
And that is really what separates the record from a lot of its peers. The duo understand that growth is inconsistent. Healing is inconsistent. Sometimes you are reflective and emotionally mature. Sometimes you’re lying on the floor listening to the same 12 songs because someone replied with a thumbs up to your wall of text.
Musically, the record jumps between dream-pop, synth-pop, and 80s-infused moments without sounding like a playlist disguised as an album. Smith’s production keeps everything cohesive, even when the styles of sounds shift. More importantly, the sequencing actually feels intentional, considering these songs were written across several years. That’s not a small accomplishment! The record never sounds like it’s been stitched together for the sake of finally releasing a debut.
It helps that these songs never feel emotionally curated. There’s no wink at the audience every five seconds, no trying to act detached from everything being said. A lot of indie-pop lately feels so terrified of being called “cringe” that the actual emotions get buried beneath aesthetics and irony. But with It Comes in Waves, that problem disappears. So, enjoy your listening.
