Music Reviews

So I’ll admit I had no idea who this artist were when they popped up on the front page of album of the year, but the album intriguied me for many reasons, the album cover looks fire, the genres such as glitch-pop and shoegaze which this album falls into are some of my favorites and well, it seemed to get a lot of tracktion from the community, so I decided to check it out for myself. And am I glad I did so.

The album combines all these aforementioned genres almost flawlessly and very tastefully. Glitched is probably the best word to describe it. It feel weirdly distopian in like the best way possible. Very industrial yet super sweet and alive. The production is very hazy and shoegazy but also really bright and abrasive at points. It’s almost like the „Loveless“ of this time, almost.

So to start things off, the album opens up with the song „x w x“ a really agressive opener compared to the rest of the album. A lot of rock elements on this one, such as the really tasteful hard-hitting drums, the heavy guitars, the really intense screaming and honestly the orchestral elements too, the song really has it all. It’s very short and straight-to-the-point and pull the listener in instantly. The synths are also a highlight here, overall a great opener. Next is the much more restrained but shoegazy and sweet „sulky baby“ – this song is almost like a complete opposite to the last one in terms of tone even though the musical pallate remains the same, it’s really impressive. And it doesn’t feel forced either, it genuinely feels like the perfect follow-up. As for the song itself I think it is actually an improvement over the last one – the shoegazy synths and guitars scratch the brain just right, it’s almost euphoric. And the singing complete matches the vibe as it did on the last song – just a total banger front to back, one of the many highlights of this album for me. Next up is the title track „softscars“ which follows in the footsteps of the last song – it’s a little slower than the opener with a heavy emotional punch and some really beautiful background guitars and synths. The synths especially on here are an absolute joy to listen to, they feel really comforting. This song could have been longer honestly, another great one for sure. Next is the song „4ui12“ and this one has some HEAVY My Bloody Valentine aesthethics, the lyrics are also really vivid on this one too. I also like the glitchy hook or chorus or whatever you wanna call it, that essentially repeats the song’s name, it feels really bittersweet for some reason. The random crying and weeping noises towards the end of the song in the background also help make it feel more complete another really moving touch to this one, it’s a shame it ends so quickly, it kinda goes nowhere to be honest. After that is the song „ghosts“ and this one features some acoustic guitars, some simple synths and some really nice sheogazy guitars in the background. It’s a little too uneventful for my liking compared to the rest of the album so far but still really great nonetheless. The next song „dazies“ however is an all-out shoegaze banger. The way the song switches towards the end is really nice too, keeps the song feeling fresh throughout it’s runtime. The guitar lick is really memorable and the vibes are enormous – another great highlight here. „fish in the pool“ isn’t all that intresting, it features some really beautiful piano passages and heartfelt vocals – if nothing else it’s a nice change of pace from all the overwhelming shoegaze aesthethics and walls of sound, so I can give it that at least. Speaking of, the next song is „software update“ and it hits you with exactly one of those walls like right as the last song ends. After that the rest of the song is surprisingly mild though, it’s actually one of the slowest song on here – the vibes are still definitely there though, even though I wish maybe a bit more happened in the song. It transitions really nicely into „inferno“ though, which starts with this gorgeous orchestral piece that moves throughout the song – this is the first song in a while that once again has a more steady beat and a sort of heartbeat to it and I really like it for that. The synths are fun and match the aesthethic perfectly. The „drop“ of the instrumentation is a little reminicent of Crystal Castles as are the lyrics here, they are especially dark and twisted here. Really good song in my opinion, just once again a little too short. „bloodbunny“ has some nice synth manipulation and I like how much it does with fairly little, but I really think there could have been more done with this song especially. I like the melody a lot though, so I can’t complain too much. The second to last song „cyber meat“ is a really good one in my opinion, the more rock-centric instrumentals bring some much-needed life to the album by this point, the synths are also some of the catchiest on the album and overall the song just hits all the right notes for me. Finally the closer „aphex twin flame“ is another acoustic piece with some really gut-wrenching lyrics. Makes the lyrical theme of traumas feel really complete by the end of it. It ends in a bit of a freakout that isn’t anything world-shattering but serves as an effective final crescendo before the song come back down to it’s acoustic start. Nice way to end it off.

So honestly what I think this album’s biggest flaw is that it from the first song presents itself as I guess more agressive than it actually is – not saying that a slower album is a bad thing, just saying that from the insanity that is the opener I expected the album to follow in those footsteps. Also the first few tracks really outshine the rest of the album in my opinion. The album is still great though with many memorable highlights that I’ll be bumping for days to come – I’m really glad I gave it a shot.

-favorite tracks: x w x, sulky baby, softscars, 4ui12, ghosts, dazies, inferno, parts of bloodbunny and software update, cyber meat, aphex twin flame

-least favorite tracks: fish in the pool

Decent 8/10