8/10

Pterocat's debut album 'Slow Blink' is a record built around the movement between countries, languages, relationships, identities and even different ways of understanding the self. Formed around Brazilian artist Thaïs Dahas and Atlanta musician Colby Granger, the band grew from a collaboration shaped by migration, community and a shared instinct for blending genres. And their music draws together Brazilian influence, dream-pop, indie, art-pop and shoegaze without ever treating those ingredients as separate compartments.

'Anti' begins by turning perfectionism into something rhythmic and strangely liberating. Built from a bass idea that became the melodic and rhythmic foundation for everything around it, the track repeats words such as "redo", "retouch", "undo" and "erase" in English and Portuguese, transforming the language of self-criticism into a song about breaking free from it.

Whereas 'Borders' pushes much harder. Described by the band as the angriest song on the album, it combines melodic writing with spoken and screamed vocals while confronting the immigrant experience in the United States. Its central image is simple but effective: walls will always contain holes, and people will always find ways through them.

Elsewhere, 'Dispara' moves between Portuguese and English while connecting escape from an abusive relationship with the imagery of trying to start and repair a car, shifting between bossa-influenced rhythm and a rougher grunge pattern. While 'Greyscale' turns towards the difficulty of caring for a friend with depression while struggling yourself, using warmer guitar and synth melodies as a deliberate gesture of care.

Then there's 'Train Song', one of the album’s most intense moments. Built around climate anxiety and the sensation of a bad trip, it circles back on itself as layers of guitars and synth accumulate, creating the feeling of a storm becoming more dangerous with each return.

Ultimately, 'Slow Blink' is ambitious without feeling forced, and restless without losing its emotional centre. And for Pterocat, crossing boundaries is just another way the music itself learns how to breathe.