Tallahasee outsider musician Ben Varian floats in and out of the realms of Palmolive-smooth jazz-funk and vaporwave ambience. His latest EP Real Domestic Scene shows him exploring the refinement of pop arrangement as a conduit to the anxieties of routine. The title track fits as another signpost of the current subterranean soft-rock revival, but instead of using it to express a tingly nostalgic feeling, Varian shapes it to get at the malaise, and even terror, of domesticity. “You found a head rolling on the ground/that’s how I normally get around/the towels were hung up the sheets were clean/it was a real domestic scene,” deadpans Varian. His detached mention of disembodied heads recalls American Psycho, another narrative drawing a deep connection between Phil Collins-leaning production gloss and the existential dread buried beneath convention. The liveliness of that boogie bassline along with that happy-go-lucky, chop sticks-style bridge push the calm neutrality of Varian’s voice in the opposite direction to take on a tone that sounds repressed and despondent. Real Domestic Scene is out now on Patient Sounds.