This is an album that reminds you why you love music, simple as that. underscores has always been a genius and constantly pushing the envelope with her production, which is to be expected from someone who has such a rich range of influences from various forms of media and corners of the internet. I still can’t believe that I had unknowingly been listening to her first ever release under this alias back in 2017, and that she had been the one who uploaded the recording of Virtual Riot making a dubstep drop in 10 minutes (a video I watched over and over and over again) - she genuinely has been so tapped into the internet, it’s actually wild.
All that to say that I grew up with very similar interests and influences on the internet, and yet it is still so mind-boggling to hear how these influences have taken shape in her music because she just has that sauce that literally no one else in this scene has. There has been so much growth too, especially in comparison to the first project of hers that made me a fan (fishmonger). Of course, in that time she underwent her transition, which plays a big part in how far her vocals have come (they’re genuinely incredible now, making the vocals on fishmonger almost unrecognisable at some points), but her production as well has just expanded so much.
This is the tightest and driest (reverb-less?) I’ve heard her production as she taps deep into her pop music bag, and she even manages to tie in the EDM influences with some really euphoric 4 on the floor drops. I cannot fathom how one even begins to make an album like this, much less 9 straight tracks of heaters (actually, kinda on the fence about Hollywood Forever but it’s not bad or anything) but genuinely I cannot sing enough praises about this album and underscores, she’s a fucking genius. This is the kind of release that inspires you so much yet also makes you highly consider quitting music altogether (as an artist). Phenomenal.
Fav Tracks: literally all of them