Afterglow: what the light leaves behind

Afterglow walks a neon city that has become a memory bank — every corner cached, every crosswalk timestamped with someone who isn’t there anymore. The romance burned fast; the album is about the light that stays.

“Neon Bones” and “Ghost in the Echo” map the haunting. “Left on Read” needs no explanation to anyone who has lived this century. But the record’s real work is alchemical: grief transmuted, track by track, from “Against the Tide” toward “Flicker To Gold” — heartbreak’s heavy lead into self-discovery’s gold.

The closer is called “Thank you”. After ten songs, it’s earned, and it means exactly what it says.