This Is Our Jam: Washed Out, “Eyes Be Closed”

When Washed Out released the cover image for Within and Without, it was immediately apparent that an aesthetic shift was in the works. It’s not that the image was of young people ostensibly having sex, but that the quality of the photograph was so...well, not washed out. Ernest Greene’s bedroom pop aesthetic—and Chill Wave in general—had been about foggy soundscapes evoked by Polaroid haze, yet this image captures a moment with intimate exactitude. Album opener "Eyes Be Closed" keeps with the photo to better define Washed Out's sound; The post-Panda Bear glow is still present, but there is a noticeable heightening of resolution. The tropes of lost youth, young love, innocence (all of those hard-to-define things we liked about Washed Out to begin with) are still here, but the added clarity is welcome. (Gorilla vs Bear)