Ever since local indie-rock project Options debuted with 2014’s What You Want , main man Seth Engel has continued to release short-and-sweet songs that are equal parts hooky and glum. By now, Engel can pretty reliably pull your heartstrings while tempting you to break out your air guitar, but after seven albums, he also started dabbling in other sounds. Options’ 2021 mixtape, On the Draw , is dappled with electronics (keys, percussion, even a bit of bass), and Engel heads further in that direction on last month’s self-released Beast Mode . Most noticeably, he fools around with vocal effects, sometimes processing his low-key singing so that he sounds like a toy robot. This slight shift casts Options’ instrumentals in a new light, bringing a gusty chilliness to Engel’s sharp, whittle

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