I heard Dimitriam for the first time right before I ordered Bug Spring from Almost Halloween Time Records. The album is an absolute blast, and this could just as easily have been a review of that album. Instant Coffee, Dimitriam's newest tape, is a return to that same form, in more ways than one. The Bug Club returns on this record, reuniting Dimitriam with Marina Cornelius on drums and Nathan Hendler on keys.

I would encourage you to give that tape a listen either before or after you listen to Instant Coffee for the first time. If you've peeked at the Bandcamp pages for both Bug Spring and Instant Coffee, you might have already recognized some overlap. This tape consists of nine Hi-Fi recordings, six of which can be heard in Lo-Fi form on Bug Spring and Amphora, Dimitriam's second full-length home-fi tape. One of the remaining three is a cover of Randy Meisner's Heart's On Fire, and the last two are new originals from Dimitriam.

Worm Song, appearing on the first side of the tape, is incredibly funky, a masterclass in getting the most out of a phaser. One of Dimitriam's biggest strengths as a songwriter comes from the ability to connect the insignificance that one might feel when exploring mountain ranges in Arizona to the nihilist splendor of a worm crawling across a guitar. The only thing bigger than us is everything. The other new song, Illusions, is dotted along the edges of the L/R channels with these spacey twinkles and ambient swells. This song's lyrics explore the real, the surreal, and the scary. These new tracks are really special, and they have me excited for Dimitriam's upcoming Foil Stars tape on Moone/Pass Without Trace. I wish that we could've gotten a third original in place of the Randy Meisner cover, especially to open the B side of the tape.

The collection of Bug Spring songs that make a return here are all very welcome. The record ran a twelve-song length and you would be hard-pressed to find any misses, but choosing the best of a great collection has its challenges! Imagine being tasked with designing the Bee Thousand set for a Guided By Voices show, yanno? Color TV was a stand-out track already on its original tape thanks to Cornelius' drumming. In this studio take, she kicks it up to eleven, and Hendler is unleashed to wreak this kind of beautiful vintage synth havoc on the track. The Bug Club keeps their form up as we transition into Ziploc, this time transformed into a lush soundscape which plays in juxtaposition to Dimitriam's recitations against plastic-wrapped life. I won't touch much on Self-Adhesive here other than to say that it's really sprouted into a wonderful ballad.

Three songs return from Amphora as well! Not Here's new arrangement sees it just as anthemic as it appeared originally. Ceiling is imbued with an even more somber solipsism via droning swells from Hendler's keys, while its breakdown is brought to new intensities thanks to explosive crashes from Cornelius to break up an otherwise even keel. Rug, which by my account snuck right by me on Amphora, shines extravagantly this time around. Every single second of this song is a trip through the joy factory, and the key solo leading into Dimitriam's delivery of "Welcome to the Rug" feels like a cold glass of ice water right after waking up. Or maybe more like a cup of instant coffee?

I've got lo-fi biases, and it would be ridiculous to pretend otherwise. The biggest question surrounding any lo-fi artist, I think in the mainstream anyways, is whether a lo-fi artist could pivot into hi-fi. Should you buy Dimitriam's studio debut? Yeah absolutely. Should you also buy Dimitriam's non-studio releases? Yeah, obviously.