XCVIII ‘Till Next Time’ – out now!

On Till Next Time, Detroit’s XCVIII offer a compact but emotionally resonant waypoint in their developing narrative. Their music—an interplay of postmodern art-pop sensitivities and alternative-rock textures—leans toward the liminal. You hear it in the way their arrangements blur the tangible and the dreamlike, recalling the emotional contour of Radiohead while embracing the intimacy and experimental curiosity of artists like Dijon and Mk.gee.

This EP arrives during a transitional moment for the band: frontman Kevin Joseph and bandmates Tristan Johnson, Alex Ramirez, and Moogie Fawaz are juggling the building of their independent label and restaurant, Crazy Charlie’s, alongside the search for a new member. That instability permeates the record. Rather than smoothing over the fractures, Till Next Time studies them, tracing loss, resilience, and the thin thread of belief that holds creative projects together.

XCVIII frame their ethos as “Dreamsreality,” a concept embedded in the EP’s structure. The songs feel suspended—neither departure nor arrival, but something more ambiguous and revealing. “It’s about what’s been lost, what remains, and what’s still to come,” the group notes. That sentiment acts as both manifesto and mirror, grounding a project that captures a band in motion, even as they stand still.

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