When bands are in search of their sound and identity, they often take the missteps of overreaching and overcompensating, and as a result, their own hyperactive ambitions tend to swallow them. Thankfully the band Light Pollution have bitten off just enough shoegaze and chillwave to make their debut album Apparitions pleasantly satisfying.

You, the listener, aren’t exactly blown away by their throbbing beats and hazy pop melodies — it’s been done before — but you can appreciate the way the group is trying to experiment with the basics. The quartet, who hail from the United States’ Midwest, sometimes sound unseasoned, but show great promise during the record’s brightest moments.

Take, for example, the synth-swirling opener ‘Good Feelings’. It begins low and barely audible, slowly building up with fading bleeps and an intergalactic whiz here and there. Just when you’re about ready to get impatient, beeps and bits of strings start to charge at you and somehow the mishmash of sounds whirlwind in epic fashion to ring in the very first line of Apparitions: “Are you going to get through?” begs frontman and main songwriter James Michael Cicero. The song continues on in a silky way, hitting psych-pop right on its nose. Its chorus may get a little repetitive, but chanting “good, good feelings,” has a way of rubbing on you; before you know it, the track takes the form of some big puffy cloud that you are content floating on.

On ‘Drunk Kids’, probably one of the weirdest of the album’s nine songs, Cicero insists that listeners “let go of all that surrounds you,” while some kooky arrangements ironically seem to keep these same listeners at bay throughout all of the verses. But the “chill” in “chillwave” kicks in during the chorus, making Light Pollution sound like The Beach Boys if they were on acid, essentially saving the track.

Many of the other songs on the album seem to follow this formula, which should be seen as a good thing. Because despite the fact that each one features a few straggling detours where Light Pollution take a little too much time testing out the waters with odd effects and pacing, the band is able to refocus and deliver crystallized delicious lo-fi pop before the track runs out. Also, Cicero’s voice, strained and slightly adolescent-sounding remains a stark (but good) contrast to some of the fluffiness of Apparitions. At times, it’s kind of a waiting game with them, but it’s well-worth the antsy-ness in the end.