Music Reviews

Irony, your official band name has duly been dubbed Envy of None. That’s the tres-cool moniker for a four-piece Canadian/American band that includes vocalist/keyboardist Maiah Wynne, multi-instrumentalists Andy Curran (Coney Hatch) and Alf Annibalini, and guitarist Alex Lifeson, the latter of whom you may know from his innovative halcyon decades in that little ol’ prog-rock trio from Ontario known as Rush.

Envy of None’s self-titled indie-rock debut made its presence known via Kscope in April 2022, but their even-more-aurally challenging sophomore effort ups the genre-defying ante. Said second EON effort, Stij(ē)ən Wāvs—a.k.a. Stygian Waves, for the accent-impaired—was released in multiple physical formats via Kscope on March 28, 2025 (i.e., on LP, CD, and BD), in addition to being made available digitally in various hi-res forms on Apple Music (both Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res Lossless), Amazon Music (Ultra HD), Tidal (Max), and HD Tracks (24-bit/96kHz stereo). On the Stij(ē)ən Wāvs BD, you can switch between Atmos, 24/48 DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and 24/96 stereo mix options for the album’s 11 tracks, in addition to viewing animated, in-Atmos video treatments for four of them.

Before I get into reviewing that all-encompassing 360-degree Stij(ē)ən Wāvs mix, I wanted to first share my exclusive interview with Lifeson about what he thinks of Atmos, his reaction to a certain key Rush track in Atmos, and what might (or might not) be done in Atmos next. (Incidentally, if you want to read more of what Lifeson had to say about the making of Stij(ē)ən Wāvs and get his thoughts about honoring 50 years of Rush, you can go here on our sister site, Analog Planet.)

Mike Mettler: I know your bandmate Alf Annibalini did the stereo mix for Stij(ē)ən Wāvs, but who did the Atmos mix?
Alex Lifeson: Alex Gamble at Union Sound Company did the Atmos and the 5.1 mixes. He was so great to work with because we were kind of precious with our mixes. We didn’t want anything kind of fancy and tricky with stuff whipping around, and things like that.

So, I went in [the studio] initially with Alex, and we did a test on a couple of songs. He really got a sense of what we were after, from the beginning. He thought the mixes were quite good, but he just wanted to enhance them with some “spatial” stuff—and that’s what he did.

Once we were confident he was the right guy, he went ahead with the rest of it. We came in and we did a playback of everything, and did some tweaks. And we were really, really happy, because Atmos is really an interesting platform. But it also depends on the guy—on the mixer—because there’s also that temptation to make it tricky by whipping things around, like I said.

Mettler: Right—you don’t want an Atmos mix to come off sounding gimmicky at all.
Lifeson: Exactly—and Alex did not do that. So, it’s just a really great environmental listen in Atmos. I think your audience will love it.

Mettler: Yeah, agreed. Especially when it comes to the title track, where’s there’s this [raises hands above head] height-channel activity with Maiah’s vocals, which are just so enveloping and immersive—just as they should be.
Lifeson: Oh yeah, it’s so great.

Mettler: I always feel like the best Atmos mixes can put you in the room with the people making the music itself. And, as you know, our mutual friend Rich Chycki did such a great job with how he did Rush’s Moving Pictures in Atmos [which you can read about on Page 2 of this 2022 post of mine about the 40th anniversary of the MP album]. Rich even said you told him that, after you sat in the sweet spot in the studio and heard your “Tom Sawyer” solo in Atmos, it was the first time you heard it like you had heard it in your head, or something to that effect. Can you confirm that with me?
Lifeson: (nods enthusiastically) Yes! Yeah, yeah, that’s right. It was.

Mettler: Wow. Amazing.
Lifeson: Yeah. And we just had a playback party for Stij(ē)ən Wāvs here in Toronto [during the first week of March 2025], which was great. We had about 80 people, and we listened to it in the Universal Music Atmos room—and they have a big room! It’s the room right near where we did the Victor album—the re-release. [Lifeson’s fabulous 1996 solo CD on Anthem/Atlantic, credited to and titled as Victor, was specifically remixed by Lifeson and remastered by Harry Hess for a 2024 2LP and 1CD reissue on Anthem/Atlantic/Rhino, which is now credited to Alex Lifeson as the artist, and Victor as the album title.]

Lifeson: But anyway, they have a big presentation room that’s in Atmos—like, true Atmos, with thousands of speakers up there! (both laugh) That’s where you can play it for a large audience. With Atmos, you of course wanna be in that sweet spot to get the full effect of everything—but in that room, it also sounded really quite good as you moved around.

Mettler: So glad to hear that—which means I’ll have to come up there sometime and check it out myself! Now, after having such a great listening experience with Stij(ē)ən Wāvs in Atmos, would you go back and do the first Envy of None record in Atmos? Er, please? (chuckles)
Lifeson: Oh, I don’t know. I mean, I really love that record. It was really close to my heart—and, you know, I had the song about Neil, the dedication, and all of that stuff. [Lifeson is referring to “Western Sunset,” the moving, final instrumental track on Envy of None that he recorded at the late Rush drummer/lyricist Neil Peart’s Santa Monica, California, home shortly before Peart passed away in January 2020.]

I love listening to that record because it’s a great record to listen to in stereo—but we’ve moved on.

And there you have Lifeson’s exclusive-to-S&V thoughts on Atmos. Well, here’s hoping Envy of None gets reconsidered for an Atmos mix somewhere down the line. In the meantime, there are 11 tracks of EON’s Stij(ē)ən Wāvs in Atmos to enjoy—well, technically, 15 tracks, that is, if you count the videos. All of them are worthwhile—and, even better, all of them hold up quite nicely upon repeated Atmos listening sessions.

As per usual, I immersified myself in all 45 minutes of the EON Stij(ē)ən Wāvs Atmos mixes with earbuds, headphones, and open-air speakers accordingly, but, as was the case with last month’s 50th anniversary Atmos BD for Kraftwerk’s Autobahn, riding the EON Atmos wave on BD—by way of my floorstanding GoldenEar Technology Triton One loudspeakers serving as the fronts, a pair of GoldenEar Triton Sevens as the rears, and my current Sony Atmos speakers for those all-important uber-height channels—was the best surround crest to surf here.

There’s so much to enjoy on Stij(ē)ən Wāvs in Atmos. If you love what the stalwart (and still active!) alt-rock band Garbage does with their own heady/layered mix template, you’ll love what Envy of None consistently does too. The opening track “Not Dead Yet” is a Bond theme yet-to-be commissioned, replete with a gnarly solo wafting around but never overtaking Wynne’s “still alive” assertions in the back half of the track. Plus, you should be able to discern the individual voices that comprise the female lead vocal/male background vocal blendings.

A Middle Eastern tinge opens “Under the Stars,” with clever percussion from guest drummer Joe Vitale—dig those tambourine shakes ’n’ rambles, for one!—while Wynne’s all-channel vocal dominance is something that I am hereby designating as vox envelopi. “Thrill of the Chase” commences with ’80-style bleachers-stomp/clap percussion that serves as a slight misdirect, with occasional angular guitar stabs relegating to the rear channels. That said, Lifeson’s dual nod to the central riff of The Beatles’ ever-trippy 1965 single “Day Tripper” appears twice—first as sidechannel-wide accompaniment somewhat back in the mix, then much more prominent and out front in the second half. If you want to be put in the heady mindspace of ’90s shoegazing, Wynne’s enveloping dreaminess on “New Trip” will fill that bill, replete with a signature snarling riff all throughout.

Naturally, EON saves the best for last—the title track, “Stij(ē)ən Wāvs.” It’s an all-out Atmos assault in the very best ways possible. Wynne’s breathy lead-vocal moments—essentially an ongoing repetition of the mystical rhythmic phrase, “Tsangma zhidey yongshik”—pan wide across the front soundfield at the outset, supported by Eastern-tinged wobbly guitars, marching drum samples, and crisp cymbals for the first 32 seconds before the EON rhythm section lets loose and pummels you full-force. Guest Randy Cooke’s rat-a-tat drum attack hits across the bow and Curran’s thunderous bass will challenge whatever level you have your subwoofer currently dialed into—as in, it’s got “warn the neighbors” kind of low-end incursion.

As Wynne moves from that three-word chant to her expressive “yeah-ahh-ehh” and “woah-ohh-ohh” reveries, her ethereal cooing catapults into the height channels as the massive guitar riffage fuels how the volume of the accompanying multi-layered instrumental passage ratchets upward to the first breakpoint circa 1:50 into the track, with some of its layers falling back as Lifeson’s Eastern-tinged oud and Wynne’s own pulsing synths take over the lead channel-swath.

Wynne’s next chant is quite brief—barely long enough for us to catch our breath before the all-in Envy assault begins anew, another massive 360 volume swell before the next sizzling/percussive middle-Eastern break. You should also be able to hear the track-stacked vocal assertion of “Hey!” (and/or other declaration of purpose) back in the mix on a few occasions (at least once in the first half, and at least twice in the back half) while Wynne continues to float on above it all. I simply could not stop putting “Stij(ē)ən Wāvs” on all-channel repeat to get more out of it with each successive listen—certainly by virtue making it an early contender to be one of my favorite Atmos-ized tracks of the year already.

To get how truly immersive the title track is, it’s worth sharing what Lifeson told me about how Wynne submitted her “Stij(ē)ən Wāvs” vocals: “When you listen to [the song], listen really carefully, because Maiah doesn’t submit 4, 5, or 6 tracks of vocals—she submits 25 tracks,” he confirms. “She does the main vocal, the double, and some harmonies, and then she does all of this other stuff that comes in and out, and it’s all affected the way she hears it. She delivers finished stems. And if you listen carefully, there are times where you swear you’re hearing a keyboard—but it’s her voice. I think it’s very cool.” (Me too!)

In sum, I suggest you steady yourself for getting completely bowled over by the endlessly seductive pleasures of Envy of None’s Stij(ē)ən Wāvs in Atmos as soon as you can, if not sooner. Or, as Wynne puts it in “Thrill of the Chase”—go ahead and just “surrender to the sound.”

Stij(ē)ən Wāvs can be listened to in Dolby Atmos here on Envy of None’s artist page on Apple Music.