Kevin Bronson on October 18th, 2013

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Josiah Mazzaschi could hardly have picked a more appropriate name for Light FM’s fifth full-length. “Voices in My Head,” self-released this week, is another entry in the singer-guitarist-producer’s catalog nodding to the likes of Smashing Pumpkins, Silversun Pickups, Weezer and most of the noisy Britpop greats of the ’80s and ’90s. Sometimes it’s as if Mazzachi is saying, “Oh, anybody can do that.” Which is: Build dense soundscapes of layered guitars, grimy/new wave synths and propulsive rhythms and top them with hooky pop melodies sung in his boyish vocals. “Voices” is a dreamy record, the most electro of Light FM’s career, now more than a decade long. You imagine Mazzaschi the studio nerd in a bunker somewhere, battling feelings of isolation and loneliness and writing songs such as “PTSD,” “Hollow Inside” and “Hang It Up” as a way of self-medicating. Joined in the current Light FM lineup by singer-keyboardist Jacquie Parsons, bassist Nicki Nevlin and drummer Alexa Brinkschulte, Mazzaschi makes it work for listeners too.

||| Stream: “Voices Inside My Head” and “PTSD”

||| Live: Light FM celebrates its album release with a show tonight at Club Violaine at the Complex in Glendale, along with Bulletins and Modern Time Machines.

||| Previously: “Let Go,” “Mercy,” 2009 interview.