Faced with writer’s block, and following a dispute with her record label, Ramona Gonzalez recorded this album in a closet. Two closets, to be exact, in two different parts of LA, where Gonzalez has crafted Nite Jewel’s glassy, minimal synth pop style over the course of the past decade. The details might be apocryphal, but they feel true, such is the hermetic feel of the work. Part of what makes Liquid Cool feel distinct (it’s also the name Gonzalez applies to her music) is the fact that the synth pop style Gonzalez pioneered in the late 00s has had its moment. Polished up on the Drive soundtrack, it was then filleted by other artists such as Grimes, and is now largely silent again. So, if what Nite Jewel offers here sounds doubly retro, it is sincerely meant. Programmed rhythms and simple synth progressions are paired with Gonzalez’s languorous vocals. Kiss the Screen, Over the Weekend and Boo Hoo are catchy and uptempo, but remain sketches of uncertainty, of imagined love. There’s a sense of truth being deliberately obscured – left in the closet, perhaps.
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