Izaak Opatz, Devin Champlin, Serafima and the Shakedowns

Izaak Opatz’s music has always been about longing, run through with nostalgia for the passed-by and out-of-reach. His first two albums, Mariachi Static and Extra Medium, were propelled by a longing for specific people and places, made relatable by wry humor, thoughtful simile and close observation. More recently, he’s been writing songs that long for an alternative reality, for different possibilities than the short, doomed menu offered by our tech lords and the current kakistocracy failing to regulate them. Songs that push back against the coercive pressure to indulge in small conveniences at the expense of personal privacy, a 20th-century attention span and the steady drip of a monthly subscription: I spend a lot of my time now, jumping through hoops / asking permission from a little screen convincing a robot that I’m not a robot / this future isn’t all it was cracked up to be