on the pulse - 2022 - #21 - 5 seconds of summer, rina sawayama, the wonder years, little big town, mura masa, hatchie, saidan, spunkshine
Spunkshine - A Memory Of Something Vast And Elemental - what’s fun with Spunkshine is that the subgenres of electronica he touches often feel contemporary, but they're warped with unearthly textures that are simultaneously familiar and alien, a reconstruction of the now brought back from the future. And here, we have one of his most melodic and propulsive outings since the late 2000s, where in the face of the ineffable, inexplicable, and overwhelming, we hear the playful and absurd, able to marvel its scope in quieter ambient moments but also bounce around it with wiry synths, vocal fragments, more textured percussion, and some of his best IDM and even house grooves ever. Yeah, some tones can feel a shade grainy or tinny in the mix, and it is a long, intentionally obtuse listen, but there’s a warped, elegant silliness that’s endlessly charming. Great stuff!
Saidan - Onryō II: Her Spirit Eternal - Hey, raw black metal from out of Nashville that's been getting some hype and has been on my docket for a while thanks to some intriguing crossover with j-rock… and colour me impressed with how well this turned out! Yeah, the basslines could be more robust in the mix, and the shredded vocals delivering explicitly graphic content surrounding scenes of exploitation, feminine trauma and gory vengeance juxtaposed with brighter j-rock inspired shredding can trigger some tonal whiplash if you dwell on it. But it’s also an album so furious and kinetic with its drumwork and melodically robust while balancing that edge with softer passages that’ll pull you along for the ride. It’s definitely more polished than their filthy roots, but I reckon it only amplifies their tuneful strengths; this is insanely visceral stuff, definitely slept on, check it out!
Hatchie - Giving The World Away - Another album that’s been on my docket forever, mostly because the 2019 debut was a pretty nice dream pop update for the 2020s, emphasis on pop. And with this follow-up reportedly even better, I was intrigued… and good thing I did, because while I’ve questioned nostalgia for 90s shoegaze, alt-rock and Britpop, this is one of the most varied and colourful revivals I’ve heard in a while! The production is way better balanced and expansive, the melodic hooks bend in more distinctive ways, and while the album feels uneven, overlong, and a bit overpowered by its own atmosphere, that can play well into lovestruck, yearning lyrics that are self-aware enough to second-guess relationships, what seems too good to be true, and when to fly away for yourself. You can trace obvious influences, and it’s definitely flighty… but the transcendent moments are worth it. Great album!
Mura Masa - demon time - I’ve covered three projects from Mura Masa, and with another prominent stylistic shift I think it’s fair to say that Alex Crossan has a bit of an identity crisis. In this case, it’s future bass that we’ve heard better 3-5 years ago blended with the lingering 2000s nostalgia now manifesting as stiff and increasingly simplistic loops that ditches much of the organic texture and groove that had real potential! It’s where any deeper deflection or lyrical deconstruction through more romantic subtext on ‘blush’ or ‘e-motions’ or slowthai’s one tired verse on ‘up all week’ get overshadowed by minimalist tunes and brand name flexes, so it feels slick and antiseptic, but also too derivative and safe to feel experimental. A few okay cuts, but this is horny fashion runway music… doing last year’s dances, and even though it’s short, I ran out of patience. You can skip it.
Little Big Town - Mr. Sun - I hate saying this, but I have to: this is why a label picking crap singles matters, because even if they work a little bit, they can trace your artistic direction going forward, even with all that promise on the albums the majority doesn’t hear! And that’s sadly the case here for Little Big Town, because while more band members sing lead this time, this is a balmy summer album dropped in mid-September that is bloated and very drunk. It’s revealing that for an album trying so hard to be bright, optimistic, and low stakes that the wallowing heartbreak is as messy as the wine, beer, and whiskey, sprawling over a self-produced project where the rough edges in mixing, compositions, and even the harmonies feel less intentional. But when you’re ten albums in and past your experimental years… yes, the formula still works, this is decent, but man, I expected more.
The Wonder Years - The Hum Goes On Forever - So seeing fans be lukewarm on Sister Cities as a darker, more experimental sound away from the formula of pop rock and emo really bothered me - it was mature and great, it deserved better! And you know, The Wonder Years have kept growing up on this new album: where you settling down and having kids is in sharp juxtaposition to a world collapsing and folks struggling to survive within it, where despite intense survivor’s guilt you’re not quitting - the hum of depression goes on forever, but you can quell it. It’s just a shame that despite bringing in Will Yip on production for three songs, they’re back to a well-produced but slightly overblown pop punk standard that feels like a step backwards. Yes, the performances are still visceral and the writing’s intensely detailed, it’s still good… but this hum feels a bit distant, doesn’t cut quite cut through.
Rina Sawayama - Hold The Girl - Look, I’m onboard with this, SAWAYAMA was one of the best of 2020, she was able to balance so many different genres in pop with impassioned vocals and forward-thinking, heartfelt lyrics and it was so exciting, so I had expectations… but I’m cooler on this than I want to be. I previously wasn’t fond of the wonky mixing or clunky, underpowered grooves not from Matt Tong, but the larger issue is how the sound is more reminiscent of Joanne and Chromatica-era Lady Gaga; well-performed in a haze of synths, vocals and acoustics, but narrower, over-layered nostalgia with less experimental flair. Now this matches the content: it’s more introspective, peeling through racist and queerphobic discrimination and grooming, sifting through trauma to do the messy work of repair. A shame the compositions don’t really have the grit, flair or punch to elevate them - good, not great.
5 Seconds of Summer - 5SOS5 - Let’s be blunt: it feels like 5 Seconds of Summer have been screwed over in recent years - more label mismanagement than anything, especially as the fans stuck around! Now quasi-independent after Luke and Ashton put out decent solo projects, they produced and wrote the majority of this themselves… and for the better, because there’s quality here! No, not a pivot back to pop punk and there’s more programmed elements from other producers that don’t fit - they’re still struggling to crystalize a sound with too much falsetto and these blown-out late 2010s drops that don’t let them be the explosively angsty Britpop rock band at their best - but pensive reflections on failed relationships - especially with fame - paired with U2-esque fluttery melodies and big grooves, it’s a clunky, frontloaded transition to realizing potential… and it’s their best to date.