Hozier – “Eat Your Young”, “All Things End”, “Through Me (The Flood)”
“Eat Your Young” – A
“All Things End” – A
“Through Me (The Flood)” – B
Hozier is back! Fans of his previous album will rejoice as he returns with a sound that builds on Wasteland, Baby. “Eat Your Young” could be dropped right in the middle of his second album and nobody would bat an eye. One thing is for sure with Hozier. While his sound may ebb and flow, his lyricism and his voice are nearly guaranteed to be beautiful. He writes poetically and has a rich tone that I’ll never be sick of. “All Things End” makes use of some electronic sounds, as well as a little bit of orchestral backing. But when the choir comes in towards the end, the track really comes together. “Through Me (The Flood)” starts with a somber tone. I love when Hozier takes a darker approach, like in “Arsonist’s Lullabye” for example. “Through Me” doesn’t exactly channel that the way I was hoping it would. That said, the percussion on this is tight. While I probably found this to be the most forgettable of the three, it still stands above a lot of what I heard this week. I’m liking the choir sounds, I’m liking the strings, I’m liking the energy. I hope Hozier also provides some of his slower, more contemplative tracks on his upcoming album. But so far, I’m excited.
100 gecs – “Dumbest Girl Alive”
A
I haven’t yet delved into the band’s newest album, but this opening track has me excited. I was hooked as soon as I heard the “THX” sound. 100 gecs continues to make their own brand of hyperpop. It’s always fun. I think if this is any indication of how the album will be, then I’ll be happy.
Feist – “Borrow Trouble”
A
I’ll admit, I don’t really know what Feist has been up to since “1234”. But this song’s organic instrumentation is a breath of fresh air. It pairs nicely with 100 gecs (I don’t actually recommend listening to these songs in any particular order, I did this very chaotically).
Ava Maybee – “Puke”
B
I’ve only heard one other Ava Maybee song before, that being “Colors”. I quite enjoyed her almost smoky tone of voice. And the groovy instrumentals suited her nicely. On “Puke” she takes the sound in a new direction. It’s not necessarily a bad one. Her voice still is a notable aspect of the song. But the instrumentals this time feel more general indie pop/rock. But I’m a sucker for general indie pop/rock.
Will Joseph Cook – “MF BASSLINE”
C-
Bad. Awful. Disappointing. I’m watching Will go down a weird, greatest common denominator path and I do not enjoy it. His debut album has some nice, contagious indie pop on it. He was, at one point, one of my most listened to artists. But these days I’m not loving his output, which has continued in a pop direction but taken a strange turn. His most recent album featured the same song from the album prior, but this time with a new featured artist on the verse. And can we be done with the ALL CAPS song titles?
TOLEDO – “Shirley”
A
TOLEDO returns with a raw, open acoustic track. The tune is sweet and quirky. TOLEDO’s usual honest lyricism is ever-present. With “Shirley”, the band demonstrates that less is more. I continue to love this band and I look forward to each new song. They absolutely deserve more recognition.
Phoenix feat. Clairo – “After Midnight”
B-
Phoenix dropped a new version of “After Midnight” from last year’s album Alpha Zulu. This time, the track features indie icon Clairo. It sounds pretty much how you’d expect it to. And that’s ok. Clairo’s subtle, soft spoken tone doesn’t quite match the energy of the song. While still the same catchy tune I enjoyed from Alpha Zulu, I can’t help but feel Clairo didn’t really add anything to this track beyond the possibility of appealing to some Instagram followers who might catch it on her story.
half.alive – Beige
B-
“Beige” almost feels like the 1975’s album Notes On A Conditional Form” with the use of abstract, ambient sound. Half.alive’s last album was somewhat disappointing to me. I quite liked their debut. I thought they were headed in an interesting direction. While I enjoyed some of the songs on their follow-up, it didn’t live up to their potential. Their new song, “Beige”, feels like it could go on their first album from a sonic standpoint. But if it did, I think it would pale in comparison to the rest of the lineup.
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