With a sound built on a foundation of indie rock, it’s their diverse inspirations—from Brazilian pop to yacht rock—that add more texture with each release. Their latest single, “Patterns in the Sky”, a smooth, yacht-rock-tinged affair with shimmering guitars, speaks to their most recent fixations. “The three of us are obsessed with Steely Dan and Japanese city pop music right now,” Ed said. “So that definitely shows on that song.” In many of their recent releases, their sound can be hard to pin down, but that fluidity is the key to their distinct sound. “I think it’s a little bit of everything, like rock that also has a little bit of a jazz influence as well,” Fern explained. “Personally, I really love electronic music, dance music in general, music from the 70s and 80s, disco boogie music, all that.”
While crybaby saw the band firmly establishing their indie rock roots, their 2023 album Cabo Blanco heavily incorporated elements of Brazilian Tropicalia, a nod to both Fern and Brazilian-born Gianluca’s own inspirations. “Obviously, we love rock, we love these pop records, seminal R&B records, jazz, and Brazilian music, of course,” Gianluca explained, mentioning artists like Milton Nascimento, Lo Borges, and Gilberto Gil. “Some of this stuff is just embedded in our subconscious.”
