EP review: ††† (Crosses) – PERMANENT.RADIANT

When the Deftones’ Chino Moreno, Far’s Shaun Lopez, and bassist Chuck Doom formed the Crosses in 2011, the consequences were predictable. Deftones’ EPs and eventual self-titled full-length album, released in 2014, were heavily influenced by the electronic warmth of bands like Depeche Mode. Exploring such waters on his own terms, boosted by the competence of his co-conspirators, which sometimes bordered on brilliance, what emerged was often imaginative, evocative, and stunning.

PERMANENT. RADIANT, the band’s first release in eight years, finds them in full creative flow, despite the fact that they are now a two-piece due to Chuck’s departure. This is, once again, music for isolation, headphones, and the night. It’s a sound built on atmosphere and immensity, to the point that the actual songwriting (which is obviously very brilliant) is secondary to the depth of sound in which the couple submerges the audience.