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Ducktails, ‘III: Arcade Dynamics’ (Woodsist)

With 2010’s chillwave tide receding, Real Estate guitarist and Ducktails’ lone member Matthew Mondanile moves more toward lo-fi pop on his third full-length. Unfortunately, Mondanile’s knack for crafting uncanny synth miniatures was his true strength (see 2009’s ethereal Landscapes, basically the microgenre’s Selected Ambient Works Volume II). So the woozy sputter of “The Razor’s Edge” seems peripheral, and acoustic bits like “Little Window” never blossom. Instead, there’s the ten-minute fizzle of “Porch Projector,” which lays lackluster guitar plucks against a field recording of popping fireworks.