Pretty Sick radiate wistful countercultural '90s charm on “Superstar”

Pretty Sick hark back to a free-spirited era where the uninhibited range of grunge acts such as L7 and Dinosaur Jr. dominated left of the dial. A unit since their early teens, the New York-based outfit have finessed a distinctive imprint in a relatively brief span of existence, owing in no small part to the prodigious talent of Sabrina Fuentes at the helm.

Pulled from their recently released EP Deep Divine, “Superstar” tacitly hints at the abrasive potency propelling the band’s initial slew of material, tapping a shoegaze sensibility that lends a shimmeringly melancholic dimension to the four-piece’s artistic playbook.

Fuentes’ lilting vocals establish an indelibly bittersweet presence, intersecting with shuffling percussion and haze-filtered guitar refrains; gently progressing from rolling tranquillity to a stratosphere-scraping solo, paralleled with lyrics steeped in self-questioning reflection: “When everything's easy / Why do I put up a fight?”