Vancouver albums

I Think I Saw You See Me: Superimposer

Featuring Cole Schmidt, Giorgio Magnanensi, Gavin Youngash, James Meger, & Kenton Loewen

Will Chernoff

Dec 11, 2023 — 2 min read

I Think I Saw You See Me (stylized in all caps) is a five-piece band of improvisers with both experimental and rock chops – not just experimental rock per se, but the whole meal deal! – exploding through a debut instrumental album on cassette, Superimposer.

Cole Schmidt is a summoner, whether he and fellow guitarist Gavin Youngash are cooking up hypnotic riffs to end these tunes or he's leading a poignant rally of the ensemble up to high speed. It's not unlike what Schmidt and bassist James Meger did recently on Sick Boss' Businessless. While it'd be easy for me to categorize this project as a Sick Boss sibling, it's more punk and more post-hardcore, viable in a bunch of rooms that would be too dank (for lack of a better word) for the bigger band with strings.

The overall aesthetic is indie and downtuned, interlocking riffs, in dark times cymbals and bass rumbling. The prevalence of Giorgio Magnanensi's electronics glitches everything out and elevates it above a plain indie rock band that aimed for the same ballpark.

The track with a period for its title is a short interlude, leaving the four other main tracks. Number three has my favourite guitar work and cools down into more chiming, ambient sounds. Number one is a strong opening that nearly tips into Metallica vibes. but not before sporting some two-guitar counterpoint.

If the drummer is the king of the band, Kenton Loewen doesn't disappoint; his playing rules. I'm used to hearing Youngash as a guitarist accompanying neo-soul and R&B artists at popular venues, so it's cool to hear him in an improv-DIY pressure cooker the likes of which I'm accustomed to hearing bassist James Meger playing in. Superimposer sees five musicians who have found themselves in every imaginable creative music situation, together get into the joy of doing it once more in a mixture that feels new and rebellious.