Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This edition features synth-pop by Same Eyes, European folk duets by Warren & Flick, a videogame soundtrack by Cereza64, imaginary movie soundtracks by An Angel Submerged, and Latin-steeped hip-hop beats by Gusmão.

Same Eyes, Love Comes Crashing
Singer Alex Hughes and drummer Chad Pratt are joined by a guitarist and bassist when Same Eyes play live. I've enjoyed the live version of Same Eyes many times, and the quartet edition brings out the indie rock side of the band, but the recordings are all about the core duo getting together to create vintage-sounding synth-pop. Love Comes Crashing is Same Eyes' third LP, mostly compiling singles the group has released over the past year, along with a few new songs—and every track on the record is great. Hughes' singing is getting more varied and confident, mixing lower-register crooning with more passionate upper-register belting. Hughes even does a spoken-word deadpan-rap vocal on "John Wayne Modern Man." The music on Love Comes Crashing mostly builds on the synth-pop sound the duo has perfected over the past five years, but there are new wrinkles throughout: "It's Casual" has more of a synth-funk vibe than usual, and "Violet" has a surprisingly grimey sound, coming across a bit like The Psychedelic Furs' murky original version of "Pretty in Pink." Terrific songwriters make terrific albums, and Same Eyes are the former and have produced the latter.

Warren & Flick, Cormorant
I ended my blurb on Jacob Warren and Grant Flick's second album, 2022's Waxwing, by writing, "The Ark should be calling Warren & Flick for a showcase concert ASAP." Three years later, the Ann Arbor duo is celebrating the release of its new album, Cormorant, at The Ark on May 28. Warren (double bass) and Flick (violin, tenor guitar, and nyckelharpa) genre-hop through any musical style that sounds good with their instruments, so their repertoire of mostly original tunes is inspired by Celtic, Nordic, Western and Eastern European, country, and bluegrass traditions. Only Cormorant's opening track, "Bässen," is streaming right now, but this Warren original showcases the duo's lyrical playing and joyous interactions.

Cereza64, GO! GO! Beetle Roller! Original Soundtrack
GO! GO! Beetle Roller! is a running-meets-platformer game developed by four Eastern Michigan University students in their Intro to Unity II class. Fellow Ypsi resident Cereza64 provided eight cuts for a soundtrack that echos the game fast-action style, with the pieces covering everything from hip-hop and drum 'n' bass to '90s-esque synth-wave.

An Angel Submerged, Mithridatum
Ypsilanti's Andrew Harvey must be a connoisseur of horror films. Mithridatum, his latest release as An Angel Submerged, often sounds like the soundtrack of a psychological terror flick, with droning lo-fi synths and scratchy guitar floating in hiss and spooky ambiance throughout the 10 tracks.

Gusmão, Urso Futurismo EP
Gustavo Souza Marques, aka Gusmão, is an assistant professor at the University of Michigan with a teaching focus on hip-hop in the Americas and music from Latin America and the Caribbean. All of those interests are clear on the new four-song Urso Futurismo EP, which often sounds like instrumentals meant for a rapper. But Gusmão, a percussionist who programmed the beats, also called on his pals who play flute, sax, trumpet, bass, and guitar to lend a jazzy vibe.

Christopher Porter is a library technician and the editor of Pulp.