Feats of Engineering, the debut from fantasy of a broken heart, feels like digging through an attic where every corner holds something thrilling and completely unexpected. Bizarre stuffed animals sit beside cherished love letters, odd mechanical parts from an unfinished Manga robot, and a half-complete deck of tarot cards—items that hint at a strange, baffling, and oddly beautiful kind of charm.
The duo behind the band, Al Nardo and Bailey Wollowitz, seem to thrive on disorder. They met in Bushwick in 2017 at a DIY venue called ‘Heck’ and have intermittently lived and worked together since, splitting time between Brooklyn and Los Angeles. Along the way, they’ve played in bands like Sloppy Jane, Water From Your Eyes, and This is Lorelei, among others. Aside from a pandemic pause, much of their time writing together has been spent on the road, crammed into tight spaces with a rotating cast of bandmates, tossing half-finished songs into the backseat of the tour van, only to pull them out years later to see what still resonates.
The result? An album that sounds like shooting stars stitched together—fleeting, fragmented moments somehow sewn into something that feels perfectly of this moment.
We start with instrumental ‘Fresh’, and what sounds like the soundtrack to a 90s corporate VHS tape, before everything shifts rapidly upwards on ‘AFV’. A buzzing alarm of a guitar riff gives way to organs rising like they are ascending from the floor of a cathedral and, before you can settle into any kind of comfort, the song goes off the rails. Guitars whip around, fighting each other for spot in the centre, synths pop and crackle like the fourth of July. The vocals — Al and Bailey ping-ponging between something sweet and something almost aggressive—are like a conversation that doesn’t care if you’re keeping up. You can almost picture them laughing, arguing, and finding magic in the noise.
Next, ‘Loss’ veers playfully between 70s pop-prog and Animal Collective‘s bouyant energy, as the pair’s vocals clash, crash, and then melt into each other in kaleidoscopic harmony. Then there’s ‘Doughland’ a curious gem of a song that feels like it was plucked from an alternate universe where David Bowie writes lullabies for the lost. ‘Mega’ has a similar feel, with lyrics that suggest a tension but never a clenched fist. While you don’t quite know what they’re talking about, it doesn’t matter. It’s the feeling of missing something that hits. You get the sense that both of them are chasing something, but they’re not even sure what. That uncertainty is like an invisible, ever-present extra band member whose job is to hold everyone’s feet to the flames.
Highlight track, ‘Ur Heart Stops’ slows the pace a little, but don’t mistake it for soft. Al’s voice dips into this effortless harmony, only to slap you with a sarcastic backhand. Similarly, the music’s loose one second, coiling up tightly the next. Later, the juxtaposition of ‘Tapdance 1’ and ‘Tapdance 2’ does the same trick. The first disorients with a repetitive synth and beat driven attack – Al singing over “nobody knows what you’re talking about”. It’s followed by a low mumbling Bailey, chewing their words, disappearing behind a staple indierock song. We may be reading too much into things here, but back to back these two tracks could be each others’ lyrical outtakes. It’s like one song is speaking to the other in a meta-cognitive cross-album conversation. Bewildering and delightful.
To really appreciate this album, we’ve got to mention ‘Catharsis’, the aptly named closer. It’s confounding in all the best ways, with Bailey sounding like they’re on the brink of some major insight. Even with its dense, sweeping strings and subtle banjo sidebar, there’s a kind of Scott 4 tightness in the music that makes it sound like everything’s holding its breath. And then… it just lets go in true release, spilling out in every direction with some fantastic guitar shredding and fevered beats.
Here’s the thing about Feats of Engineering—it’s not very easy to pin down. Nardo and Wollowitz clearly didn’t set out to write something so easily digestible. The whole album is like a night stroll through a city you love and hate in equal measure – there’s beauty and claustrophobia, wonder and frustration, all mashed together. They pull from everywhere: prog-rock, anime soundtracks, Americana, hi-fi production next to scratchy lo-fi. It’s all layered with the raw, restless energy of two people who’ve spent a lot of time together and still want to push each other’s limits. There’s no apparent big concept here, and no clear line through the chaos. These aren’t “love songs” but there is love in them. It all feels like life just as it’s happening, with both jagged edges and fleeting beauty. You’ll either find yourself lost in this weird, sprawling world, or you’ll tap out early. Either way, we think Fantasy of a Broken Heart has built something special for those willing to embrace the mess.
‘Feats of Engineering’ is released on 27 September, via Dots Per Inch Music.
