You Ever Just Listen to Music? #2
Featuring Nayeon, Carly Cosgrove, Fax Gang x Parannoul and Risano!
Well, I didn’t think I’d make it this far. Somehow, me talking about new music has persisted to a second issue. Not a lot of singles popped out at me this week so I’m going straight to the EPs and full albums. Enjoy it or don’t!
Mini Albums/EPs:
Nayeon - NA:
Nayeon’s gone solo again with her first comeback NA, two years after her solo debut Im Nayeon. That debut had a proper Song of the Summer contender in its bubbly lead single, Pop! This new release will also surely dominate my summer, but in a different way. While I mainly remember Im Nayeon for the infectiousness of Pop, I’ll certainly be taking more away from the b-sides this time around. Don’t get me wrong, ABCD is a fun throwback to 2000’s pop/r&b and a fitting choice to lead here, but the rest of the album is what really shines. I’m addicted to the lovestruck trap of Butterflies, especially with Nayeon’s ad-libs under the post-chorus. Both the playlist-ready r&b of Heaven and bouncy disco grooves of Magic make good use of their collaborators, even if I wish Kiss of Life’s Julie still had a little more to do on the latter. Nayeon’s precious vocals during the chorus of closer Count It turn the already great song into something jaw dropping, the atmospheric production sending those nostalgic chills down my spine. Nayeon is going two for two on her solo outings and I’m already anxiously awaiting her third.
Risano - 5 emotions:
Risano was my favorite member of Lyrical School, one of my personal favorite underground idol groups for their amazing group chemistry, energetic pop-rap songs and incredible live performances. However, Risano left when the group had a major reset in 2022, with all but one member graduating before switching to a co-ed system with a new lineup after dropping that year’s fantastic sendoff L.S. She easily proves that she can stand on her own with this debut EP. All 5 songs are quirky bangers swerving in and out between rap and pop, Japanese and English, and never settling in one place for very long. Everything on here works, but I particularly love Mainichi ga Special with its horn sample-driven chill beats and Lazy Crazy Lady’s playful sounds feel like a Halcali song that takes half the time but is just as fulfilling.
Albums:
Carly Cosgrove - The Cleanest of Houses Are Empty:
Philly emo band Carly Cosgrove made waves in the emo world when they dropped their debut album See You in Chemistry two years ago, and this spring they toured with labelmates Arm’s Length, Saturdays at Your Place and Ben Quad in what will surely be seen as one of the most definitive snapshots of emo’s fifth wave by everyone who witnessed it. Fresh off that tour comes their sophomore record. The Cleanest of Houses Are Empty continues where See You in Chemistry left off in its blend of pop-punk and math rock with catchy choruses throughout. Even if it isn’t immediately apparent, there’s been progress between the two records. The lyrics are more conceptual, tackling depression through many different angles. The performances are a little tighter and the songs flow neatly together. This also means that some of these songs do blend together, but there’s still some steady highlights in the pack. You Old Dog and The Impact of This Exit show Carly Cosgrove at the height of their hit-making prowess with some very memorable refrains that will be fun to scream out from the crowd at a show. This is an album I’m sure I’ll stick around with for a while, because the more I dig into it, the more there is to appreciate.
Parannoul x Fax Gang - Scattersun:
Parannoul is the best new artist to come out of shoegaze in the last several years, his last two solo albums gaining a large cult following with music nerds for their noisy, sprawling epics with lyrics that can go between being deeply personal and self-deprecating as well as moving and poetic. I was excited to see that he was coming out with another new project, this time a collaboration with the new-to-me Fax Gang, and the results were a little surprising. This isn’t a fully shoegaze record, but it’s still plenty noisy. This is a beautiful kaleidoscope of an album sliding between drum and bass, experimental rap, indietronica, dreampop and more. It’s a project that even at its weakest is so enveloping in its textures and atmosphere that I can’t help but get lost in it. Opening track Quiet feels like a pinnacle of everything this album wants to accomplish, starting on gorgeous folksy guitars and downtempo beats before the chaotic drums and fuzzy synths take it to the stratosphere. It sounds otherworldly, and like the rest of this album I feel like I haven’t even begun to truly understand its depths. What I can understand is that this is another powerful work made in partnership with one of the most intriguing voices in indie music today, restless in refining and redefining his sound with each new release.