Optic Sink Defies Convention

Optic Sink—a crafty three-piece featuring some Memphis heavy-hitters from bands like NOTS and Magic Kids—is revving up for their third record, “Lucky Number.”

Cincinnati, Ohio, tastemakers Feel It Records will release the record on October 31. In the meantime, you can cue up the first single—“Don’t Look Down”—to get a sense of where the band is taking their sound.

It’s a tense, hypnotic track floored by breakbeats, samples, wobbly guitar, and singer Natalie Hoffman’s distinctive vocals. 

“Don’t Look Down” reinforces how difficult it is to label Optic Sink, which, of course, is a good thing. If you’re hungry for a genre reference, though, maybe consider “Noir Pop,” or something along those lines.

Check out the fish-eyed, surveillance-centric music video for the track below: