Pool Kids – Pool Kids // POOL | Split Review

/
Pool Kids // POOL Split Cover Art

Skeletal Lightning

On the heels of the dizzying success of their 2022 self-titled release, Pool Kids’ newest project is a collaboration with…themselves. The Pool Kids // POOL split sees the Floridians playing off their own extremes, with three decidedly hardcore tracks under the alter ego “POOL,” which serve as foil to side one’s signature twinkly emo sounds. Has this ever been done before? Has a band issued a split with a different iteration of themselves as the second band? Amidst a music industry fraught with stale money grabs, THIS is the kind of fun, fresh thing we need here in the dismal, dreary Year of our Lord 2023. 

The EP starts with the only truly new Pool Kids track, “No Stranger.” Maybe I just have Cocteau Twins on the brain, but the singing here seems like it’s shrouded just a layer or two more than it has been in the band’s past work, delivered in a dreamy haze by vocalist Christine Goodwyne. The song’s urgency builds to a shoegazey bridge, brought back down to earth by the final bass and guitar notes ping-ponging gently off each other. What captured my heart in this song is the pop urgency of the melodies—it’s a subtle but compelling departure from the meandering American-Football-esque constructions of their previous album. However, the sounds of emo and pop-punk roots persist in the layered instruments and Goodwyne’s lyrical phrasing. Is this my new favorite Pool Kids song? Feels crazy to say, but maybe!

The second track is an alternate, slowed-down version of “Talk Too Much,” one of Pool Kids’ 2022 bangers. This reimagined version capitalizes on deliberate softness, paring back the original’s chugging guitars and turning down the dial on the vocals. It’s not necessarily quiet, though; atmospheric keys wrap Goodwyne’s voice in droning layers. The drums in the last portion of the song take me straight to Death Cab For Cutie’s “Grapevine Fires,” perhaps suggesting a throughline of indie pop that tethers some of the band’s songwriting to other disparate influences.

The twinkly guitars make a brief comeback in the third track, a pseudo-acoustic version of the 2022 album single “Arm’s Length.” Andy Anaya’s electric guitar pops in with riffs on the first couple of verses, reminding us who we’re listening to (Pool Kids), and then cedes to a melee of acoustic guitars, sparse drum machines, and even an accordion (I think??!?!). The restrained quality of Goodwyne’s voice gives the song’s lyrics a new dimension: the minimum wage complaint of verse two sounds more despairing than frustrated, for instance. And, of course, the relatable first verse—

I'm in a group chat
With twenty-one goddamn people
I wish I was exaggerating, but I'm not
My phone crashes thirty-seven times a day

Where these lyrics once came across as tongue-in-cheek, it’s astonishing how goddamn lonely they suddenly sound when cast in a soft, twilight glow at this new tempo. It’s a gently haunting end to the Pool Kids side of the split.

Then, the twinkles fade, and the mosh pit opens. Yes, it’s a little bit of whiplash, but what did you want, the same old predictable EP that’s half singles you’ve already heard? Get off your ass and RAGE! (This pep talk is as much for myself as it is for the reader, as I am old and somewhat sleepy.)

Without warning, the first POOL track begins with crashing hardcore guitars that lead into a beautifully thrash-worthy breakdown, complete with brutal shrieks and pounding double bass drums–the whole nine yards. At only a minute and 19 seconds, “Cleansing” is a brief and brutal whirlwind, and the funny thing is that it absolutely makes sense in the context of Pool Kids’ technical precision. Guitars? Check. Drums? Check. See, not so different from a Pool Kids song!

For a bit of a history lesson, the mission statement for POOL was first laid out in an emojipasta April Fools tweet back in 2019:

The band put a corresponding two-song single on Bandcamp and even a batch of 7” flexi discs, with the proceeds going to marine research on red tide. Hilariously, Paramore’s Hayley Williams happened to shout out Pool Kids—a career-boosting milestone—that same day, meaning many new fans’ confusing first encounter with Pool Kids was actually the April Fools’ tweet. The band cleared the air the next day with a Twitter thread and promised more POOL shenanigans in the future since it was clearly such a hit.

Making good on their April 1 promise to wreak annihilation, the fiery “Inside A Wall” opens with a breakneck tempo, only to slow down to a heavy chug halfway through. Again, POOL keep it short, with the song clocking in at a slim 1:28. It’s absolutely insane how deftly these guys are picking up an entirely different genre for a couple of songs. 

The final track, “Death Sentence,” feels like the guttural icing on the cake of POOL’s side of the split. Multiple tempo changes wrangle the song into three acts, a quick, yet face-melting saga. Fuck, this would be fun live, wouldn’t it?

When Pool Kids’ self-titled album knocked it out of the park last year, their meteoric success had a lot of people—including the band themselves—curious about what was next. How would they manage to keep such a trademark twinkly emo sound fresh? Philosophically, the answer lies within this split. Chop up the formula: subtly, gracefully, wildly, imaginatively.

In a recent interview, guitarist Andy Anaya beamed confidence at what lay in store in the near future: “We’re just really excited about what’s coming up for us.” The conversation progressed to what the next step looks like: “‘Now, we just want to create something that endures,’ says Andy, with Christine adding, ‘I guess we’re shooting for longevity.’”

I can’t see into the future, so I can’t speak to Pool Kids’ longevity yet. But if we’re talking industry impact, if we’re talking ingenuity, if we’re talking icon behavior (three things that lend themselves to longevity), this split reaffirms that Pool Kids are knocking it out of the park.

Katie Wojciechowski is a music writer and karaoke superstar in Austin, Texas. She is from there, but between 2010 and now, also lived in Lubbock, TX, Portland, OR, and a camper. Her life is a movie in which her bearded dragon Pancake is the star. You can check out her Substack here. She’s writing a book about growing up alongside her favorite band, Paramore.

Hater's Delight – June 2023

/

After an unexpected month off, the Swim Into The Sound team is back with another edition of Hater’s Delight, and we’re absolutely bubbling over with bad vibes. 

If you’re just now joining us for the first time, Hater’s Delight is a monthly micro-review column brought to you by our team of Swim Into The Sound writers and a guest or two. This is a space where we can vent about the things online and in music that have gotten under our skin this past month. Each writer gets a paragraph to bitch about their chosen topic, then once we expel the Haterade from our systems, we all go back to loving music and enjoying art. Speaking of which, if you’re more in the mood for some positivity, here’s a playlist of all this month’s new releases that I enjoyed (or at least found notable) to help you keep up on everything that’s happened in June.

We’re halfway through the year, so let’s get straight to it and leave it all on the field. After all, maybe the back half of 2023 will be better… but I doubt it. 

Don’t Delete Your Songs!!

I started playing in bands during the MySpace era, so I may be especially sensitive to this, but I hate when bands intentionally scrub their early recordings from the internet after releasing a new album. I get it; you want to appear like a brand new band, clean up your online presence and try to make it easy for a new fan to get into. Or maybe you feel embarrassed of those early records; perhaps you’ve outgrown those songs… But I liked those early recordings!! I want to hear your progression as an artist!! 

This brings up a thought that doesn’t feel controversial to me, but clearly, everyone might not agree with; once you make a song and put it out in the wild, it no longer belongs to you. It’s everybody’s, especially anybody with an emotional connection to it. 

A possible alternative to scrubbing your songs off the internet: maybe rebrand your band. A great example of this is the band Now, Now. I like listening to those early Now, Now Every Children records, partially because it’s wild to see a great band grow in change over 15 years. Either way, I want your early records back!! You don’t even have to put them on Spotify, just put them somewhere. I am too scared to pirate music and want to pay you money; please, do me this kindness. I’m not the only one who feels this way.

Ben Sooy – @bensooy


Smith Vs. Smiths

Beatles or Stones? Van Halen or Van Hagar? Blue Album or Pinkerton? There are some age-old debates among music enthusiasts that never get old and are pretty fun to dive into. But let’s please, please, please be done with The Cure versus The Smiths. The two alternative cornerstones are so different and influential in their own right, it’s not fair to compare. For people who hate Morrissey outright, it’s not worth breaching the conversation. But let’s look at the hard facts: The Smiths’ catalog only spans four studio albums, two compilations, and one live album across four years. The Cure have been an active band since 1978, are currently on a massive summer tour, and have released twice the output of The Smiths in proper albums alone. The Smiths, while brilliant and innovative, pretty much stuck to one sound on every song. The Cure have experimented, with some varied results, more than a few times on albums like Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me and Wild Mood Swings. It’s perfectly okay to have a musical preference for one or the other, and it’s important to recognize both of their places in rock history. But neither are “better” than the other, there’s too much different about them.

Logan Archer Mounts – @VERTICALCOFFIN


Defending Your Fave From “Normies”

Call it gatekeeping, call it superiority complex, call it whatever you want, but some fans just plain suck. Last week, a photo of Bad Bunny and Kendall Jenner record shopping went semi-viral. That picture was innocuous enough, but what got me was a quote tweet that simply commanded, “ummmm put that down.” I zoomed in on the image to see that the second-youngest Jenner was holding a vinyl copy of Phoebe Bridgers’ debut album Stranger In The Alps. Man. Funny enough, some people in the comments were quick to point out that Kendall Jenner had posted Boygenius on her Instagram story back in 2018; about as OG of a fan of that band as you can be. I know the original tweet can be written off as a joke, but it still bugs me when people try to exclude someone they view as "unworthy" to be part of their fandom or invalidate someone else's enjoyment of an artist they supposedly love. At this point, Phoebe Bridgers is closer to a pop star than anything, you can’t be revolted when popular people like her popular music. Comparing your love for an artist to someone else’s (or thinking that your adoration is more “legitimate”) is a recipe for disaster. Give me a break, and let people enjoy “Scott Street” in peace.

Taylor Grimes – @GeorgeTaylorG


TV Shows About Great Musicians, Minus Great Music

A few months back, I saw someone tweet something along the lines of “Stevie Nicks walked so Daisy Jones could run.” I’m sorry, STEVIE NICKS WALKED??? So Wattpad Stevie Nicks could RUN????? Look, I get that replicating the magic of what is widely considered one of the greatest bands of all time is a tall order, but if you’re gonna make a show about a band that’s supposed to be a fictional analog to Fleetwood Mac, you gotta at least make the songs good. This doesn’t even sound like if you bought Fleetwood Mac from SHEIN, it sounds like if you bought your uncle’s friend’s Fleetwood Mac cover band from SHEIN. Not to mention the fact that this show’s costume designer seems to have raided Urban Outfitters’ 2015 Coachella collection for the characters’ “70s” looks, or that half the cast has a terminal case of Instagram Face.

While we’re on the topic of TV shows about musicians that feel lightyears removed from the reality of the music industry, Max’s The Idol makes Daisy Jones & The Six look like the fucking Sopranos. The brainchild of the ~twisted minds~ of Sam Levinson and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye has been rife with controversy from the start, from alleged workers’ rights violations to accusations that the show’s content is misogynistic and exploitative. However, the show’s greatest sin seems to lie in its inability to pinpoint exactly what kind of musical stardom they’re trying to represent, and when they fail to do that, whatever critiques they might have of celebrity culture or the music business just kind of free fall without anywhere to land. Who is Jocelyn supposed to be? Throughout the show, she’s presented as a sort of Britney Spears stand-in (in ways that are, frankly, pretty insulting to Britney), but she’s a Gen-Z (or young Millennial) popstar coming up in a post-Britney landscape. She’s billed as a world-famous, boundary-pushing bad girl, but er the song that’s supposed to save her career (titled “World-Class Sinner”) sounds like something you’d stumble upon about five songs deep into Spotify’s algorithmically-generated radio that plays automatically at the end of a Dua Lipa album. Also, as many others have pointed out, what the fuck kind of pop diva mononym is Jocelyn? Apologies to all the Jocelyns out there, but Jocelyn is the name of the girl who restocks perfumes at the Victoria's Secret PINK store in the mall. It’s not the kind of first-name-only-name you’d see lit up Madonna/Rihanna/Beyonce-style for a sold-out stadium show. Moreover, The Idol seems to suck all the fun and opulence out of its portrayals of Hollywood debauchery. The sex scenes are boring. The drug montages are boring. They even managed to make an extravagant Rodeo Drive shopping spree look about as fun and sexy as a consumer report on the five o’clock news.

For now, I think I’ll stick to the Refused and Wilco needle drops in FX’s The Bear.

Grace Robins-Somerville – @grace_roso


Austin’s “Hot Girls Have IBS” Billboard

There is a billboard in East Austin—and yes, I’m aware that it exists in a few other places, but the Austin one is the one I’ve seen with my own eyes AND seen tweets about—that says, “Hot girls have IBS.” The aesthetic is vaguely retro-Microsoft Paint-Y2K, emulating a meme style made popular in the past few years by accounts like @dollarstoremakeup. I’ve seen MULTIPLE people, not just Austinites, post/repost this billboard with great amusement. 

Here’s the thing: ~relatable~ jokes about IBS? Not my cup of meme tea, but whatever. This aesthetic? Again, I think it’s a bit played out, but am I a full-on hater? No. It’s the fact that corporations are harnessing those things to create a successful viral ad campaign that smart, funny people are falling for—TALKING ABOUT, unsponsored, online. Have some fucking self-respect, people! You’re giving this bullshit wellness company exactly what they want: free promotion. It’s giving cringe millennial that doesn’t realize they’re being advertised to. But, of course, the primary target of my hate in this situation is the supplement company. A scourge upon my East Austin journeys, the internet, and, I would assume, bank accounts of the women this kind of advertising is apparently working on so well.

Katie Wojciechowski – @ktewoj


Respecting Others at the Gig 

Although this post is titled “Hater’s Delight,” this is much less me “hating” on these people as it is me calling out these clowns who go to shows and act stupid. One would assume it’s common sense that just because you are at a punk/hardcore show, it does not give you free rein to grab and touch whomever or whatever you’d like. Just over the past month, there have been two notable instances of this happening.

The first one that popped on my radar was a tweet by @hate5six on June 5th. In the post, he attached a video portraying a member of the crowd coming onto the stage and grabbing his camera. In true 300 style, hate5six uses this opportunity to Spartan kick the concert-goer off the stage, as he is 100% right to do. As stated in his tweet, “Play stupid games like having main character syndrome, win stupid prizes.” Despite the usual Twitter discourse that this situation stirred, I think most sane people can agree that you should not touch anybody’s property without consent. 

Speaking of consent, the second instance of cringe buffoonery happened at Heart Attack Man’s Denver concert on June 24th. The band's frontman Eric Egan took to Twitter after the show to apologize for losing his cool after someone went on stage and forcefully attempted to kiss him. Rightfully upset about this, Eric used the mic stand to defend himself. People with little concern for others’ space or property deserve their assed kicked with zero remorse. These same people then act shocked when there are repercussions to their immature actions. In conclusion, having main character syndrome at the gig = likely getting rocked in some way, shape, or form. 

Brandon Cortez – @numetalrev


Terrible Stage Banter

“WHAT THE FUCK IS UP, PITCHFORK?” is followed by the softest acoustic performance I’ve ever heard. It’s the fifth artist of the day to start their set with that tired six-word refrain. At the risk of sounding like a square, let’s talk about the terrible stage banter of indie artists. If you write incredibly interesting, creative, and thoughtful music, please, for the love of the English language, stop opening your set like you’re band 3 of 7 at a Denny’s All-American-High School-Mosh-Fest.

We get it; you’re “edgy.” Congrats. If you actually want to go against the grain, say something different to introduce your set. Allow your stage banter to be as interesting as your music. Have a catchphrase. Make a joke. Tell everyone you’re U2. Make up a fake band name. Just stop starting your festival set with that cliché, profanity-laced rhetorical question.

Here are a few intro lines I’ve heard/used at shows with some success. Feel free to steal one:

  • “How’s everyone’s pandemic going?”

  • “Good evening. My name is [your name here], what’s your name? (play loud guitar part as the crowd confusingly answers at the same time).”

  • “Are you ready for some soft rock?!?” (to the tune of Hank William’s Monday Night Football song)

  • “We’re all going to die.”

 Jack Droppers - @jackdroppers


Left Behind

In 2010, my middle school theater teacher shared her theory for why Taylor Swift was becoming so popular. She told us that Taylor’s voice was light, easy, and refreshing compared to the bombastic voices of pop stars in the 2000s. I might be the only person from that class who remembers our teacher saying that, and I remember it because that was the first time I had ever been prompted to think about music beyond “I like” or “I don’t like.” Also, I remember what my teacher said that day because I still cannot understand why I am unable to breathe in the same fresh air (Taylor Swift) that others around me seem to be luxuriating in. I am a person who likes to love things, and during this month, I have become increasingly bothered by my inability to love Taylor Swift. What made sense to be seen as refreshing in 2010 has long since felt tired and unchanging to me. Her songs have too many words in them – my friend Rose said this, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it because she put words to what I feel every time I listen to Ms. Swift’s work. The Eras Tour has been a tough time for me, mainly because I cannot join in on the fun.

Kirby Kluth – @kirbykluth

Ranking MJ Lenderman’s Wettest Songs

/

While 2023 seems to be the year that Wednesday is poised to take over the world, last year belonged to MJ Lenderman. Around this time in 2022, my Boat Songs fandom was reaching an absolute fever pitch, timed almost perfectly to coincide with a four-day weekend, a wave of incredible weather, and a diet consisting almost exclusively of BBQ hot dogs. If there ever was a perfect confluence of MJ Lenderman listening conditions, it was last summer.

I’ve spent the better part of the last two years immersing myself in the discographies of both Wednesday and MJ Lenderman, including weird one-off tracks, contributions to compilations, and early releases they’re now too embarrassed to have on streaming. In absorbing MJ Lenderman’s body of work specifically, a shocking trend began to emerge: dude can’t stop singing about water. Swimming pools, water parks, boat trips, it’s all here. Let’s take a closer look at all of these songs and rank them for their summer vibes based on totally arbitrary measures. 

1. “You Are Every Girl To Me”

A huge water slide. Why isn’t everyone talking about this? And not just a water slide, but also a community swimming pool? Lenderman is really covering all of his bases with this song. Between the now-iconic Jackass reference and descending guitar riff that feels like shooting down a water slide, this track is absolutely overflowing with good vibes. A love song for the ages that also happens to get wet in a way that’s sensible and refreshing. 

Five Otter Pops (red) out of five.


2. “Infinity Pool”

A druggy and fucked-up monologue of a song that lands somewhere between Ween’s “Pollo Asado” and the lo-fi scramble of early Car Seat Headrest. In this song, the subject is shit-faced, the stars are out, and our narrator is on top of the world, so spirits are obviously high. This feels more like a falling-into-the-pool-fully-clothed scenario, but our hero seems unbothered by this development, content to take in the view of the city's night skyline and the exactly one thousand stars in the sky. In MJ’s own words, “It's a beautiful night, life is good.”

One Brandon Cronenberg-directed Mia Goth handjob out of one.


3. “You Don’t Know The Shape I’m In”

If there’s one thing MJ Lenderman is gonna do, it’s sing about a goddamn water park. One of my favorite non-streaming MJ songs, this track is an upbeat, sun-coated bop that opens Through The Soil II, a compilation for The Trevor Project featuring the likes of Wednesday, Faye Webster, and Julien Baker, to name a few. After a brief warmup, the track gets up to speed, and MJ sets the tone by singing about romantic separation, “Some say distance grows the heart / But I know sometimes we just drift apart.” Guitar still swishing beneath him, he goes on to make an uncharacteristic biblical reference, singing, “Everybody's walking in twos leaving Noah's Ark / And it's Sunday at the water park.” Hell yeah, brother, sounds like a great way to spend the last bit of your weekend. Does this lyric also imply that the animals on Noah’s Ark were having a good time out on the water? We can only hope. 

Two of every animal ever to exist out of two.



4. “House Pool”

Over the past year, I’ve been fascinated to watch “How Do You Let Love Into The Heart That Isn't Split Wide Open” climb the charts of both Wednesday and MJ’s “popular songs” chart on Spotify. Elsewhere on the 2018 EP, you’ll find a Smashing Pumpkins cover given new life on their 2022 covers album and the dreamy “House Pool.” On this track, the dirtbag duo cut straight to the chase, lamenting, “Stand at the edge / Of the steep end house pool / No diving pool for barbecue / No one swims / No one barbecues.” So you’re telling me there is a pool and a barbeque, but neither are being used? Truly a fate worse than death. Sidebar, but do we think this song fits into the MJ Lenderman Grill Expanded Universe? Discuss in the comments below.

One pack of tragically-untouched hot dog buns out of one.


5. “Six Flags”

While not a pool or a water park, the final track off Boat Songs opens with a woozy 90-second guitar riff and (most pertinent to this countdown) mention of a log ride. The song is sad, slow-moving, and lyrically sparse, giving the impression that this particular trip to a Texas Six Flags was not as jubilant as that dancing old man would lead you to believe. Even still, Mr. Lenderman explains that the log ride got him “dripping wet,” which, in the context of this article, means there’s enough water involved for me to consider. Minus one pont only because it’s a bummer.

Five flags out of six.

Origami Angel – The Brightest Days | Mixtape Review

/

Counter Intuitive Records

There is something borderline poetic about listening to “The Brightest Days,” the title track of Origami Angel’s new mixtape, while you’re looking at a sky full of haze due to sweeping wildfires and simultaneously doom scrolling on the hellscape that is Twitter dot com. I, too, am asking where my sunny feeling is now that the sense of the world ending is so strong that it feels like I’m wearing concrete shoes and was just thrown into the bay. The soft ukulele and group vocals singing this lovely little melody quickly turn into a rug pulled out from beneath your feet as Pat Doherty’s drums come in like a punch to the face and the crunchy guitars take the forefront of the song. The backing vocals throughout this entire mixtape, especially this first song, are reminiscent of The Beach Boys. These swooning, summery vocals paired with the gritty guitar, the halftime breakdown at the end of this 2:27 track (a perfect amount of time, I am always saying that songs should be 30 seconds shorter), and the melodic guitar riff make for an absolute banger introduction to this mixtape that’s full of twists and turns. Throughout this release, you never know what you’ll get with the next track, and I think that was exactly what Origami Angel were betting on. The outro slips into the familiar ukulele, and the ghost of the guitar feedback leads you into the next song, creating a wonderful little bookend of sound that leaves the listener still reeling just a bit and excited to figure out what’s coming next.

Did I mention Beach Boys backing vocals? Yeah, welcome to “Thank You, New Jersey,” the first single from The Brightest Days and a song I take very personally as a New Jersey native. I’ll take a note from the Immortal Bard and say that brevity is the soul of wit, considering most of the community has already listened. It's here where the band really establishes the theme of surfy vocals, this time paired with crunchy, layered guitars... and that little waltzy bridge doesn’t hurt either. As a lead single, this was a fun and clever introduction to this mixtape that had me stoked to see what was coming next – Pat Doherty absolutely crushing the first 45 seconds of this song was truly what sucked me in here, not that the lyrical content wasn’t just absolutely up my alley. If there’s one thing New Jerseyans love more than people leaving them the hell alone, it’s also being at the center of attention. We are truly an onion of a people: full of layers. These D.C. natives genuinely seem to understand us. Another track clocking in under 2:40, Origami Angel is receiving a large ‘Your welcome’ from me on behalf of the Garden State.

Do I imagine “Picture Frame” as a song playing during the opening scene of some coming-of-age movie or TV show? Yeah, and I promise that’s a compliment. That guitar riff that starts off the song is head-bobbing, catchy, and a LITTLE Blink-182 if you squint. It leads directly into a high-energy chorus that I know will have people moving and grooving at the next Gami show, hopefully becoming a new staple of their setlist. The quick vocal lines in the next verse are a great addition to the song as the band continues to switch things up, never letting a moment go stale. Not only do no two songs sound the same, no two parts of a song sound too similar. The band never uses one idea enough times for it to get monotonous or boring. Once they have your attention, they don’t let it go.

As a Trekkie, “Kobayashi Maru (My Very Own)” was on my radar the moment I read the title. To give some context for those unaware, the Kobayashi Maru is a training exercise in the Starfleet Academy – a test to show recruits and trainees that sometimes you simply cannot win despite your best efforts, greatest strengths, and high intellects. I love the symbolism used here, not just on a nerd level, but it is an excellent metaphor for that consistent feeling of failure and the resignation that sometimes you just won’t be able to win. I’m absolutely digging the ska-adjacent guitar strokes in the second verse; this song is probably giving the most Motion City Soundtrack energy out of all of them for me. The instrumental chunk that takes up the last 40 seconds of the song is stank-face-worthy (affectionate) and has the song ending with more energy than it even began with, which makes it a perfect transition into the next track.

“Second Best Friend” is the second-longest song on the mixtape, but it sure doesn’t feel that way. Origami Angel has a way of bringing out some of the most ear-pleasing guitar riffs right at the start of a song and still managing to build and grow throughout. The hard-hitting drums and guitar lick quickly give way to dreamy vocals, soft, reverberating backup vocals, and acoustic guitars for just a moment–long enough that when the drums come back, it almost takes you off guard. They’re doing a great job at switching up dynamics all throughout this mixtape while still sounding definitively Origami Angel. I adore the synth in this song and how Ryland managed to create a great balance between guitar riffs and keys here, giving both the chance to round out the track without being overwhelming. This might be my favorite song of the mixtape given the dynamics – the lyrics, the stops and starts, and the varying instruments being brought to the forefront throughout the song. It sounds like Drew Portalatin really spread his engineering and production wings on this one, and it paid off. The entire mixtape is excellently produced, but this song in particular solidified that it was something special for me.

I love a transitional song, precisely what the less than a minute-and-a-half, ukulele-driven “Looking Out” provides. It allows the audience to catch their breath after listening to five high-energy back-to-back bangers before moving along. It’s a sweet little song too, with kind lyrics and ocean waves in the background. It throws you a little off your guard so that when the guitar feedback starts in the next song and that drum-heavy, gritty guitar intro to “My PG County Summer” comes in, you are wide awake, alert, and ready.

The second single, “My PG County Summer,” has received its love and praise from the public already, but I would be remiss not to mention it here given its relevance and the fact that it’s. The synth in this song, combined with the backing vocals that hit at that 1:43 mark, is what really drives it, in my opinion. I’ve been singing the praises of the backing vocals, and I shall sing them louder now. Origami Angel knows how to build a song, bring it to its height, and end it so that no drop of energy is wasted.

This all ends with the 4:22 “Few and Far Between,” which ties right back into the title track, giving the mixtape a rounded, cyclical feeling so that you barely know where it all ends and where it begins. Every downstroke of the guitar is purposeful, and the lyrics get brought to the forefront of this one which is perfect given this outro essentially sums up the mixtape as a whole.

And I still say that I love it here, behind clenched teeth and constant fear
Cause one day it will all disappear

This lyric struck me as something so true and universal – I feel it every single day, as I’m sure most, if not everyone, also feels. It’s an absolute shame to live in a world that is so imperfect and also so temporary. You want to stop and appreciate and love, and sometimes it is SO easy to do. Other days, it feels near impossible, but you make yourself love it anyway because, let’s be real, who would truly be surprised if tomorrow we found out it was going to be the last day we all had here? Not me, that’s for sure.

Origami Angel is calling The Brightest Days a mixtape rather than an EP or an album. There’s an incredibly neat balance between experimental and familiar, which is all wrapped up with a high energy, banging-guitar-riffing, climate crisis, and anxiety-having bow. Every song is different; I love the varied guitar tones and how quickly they switch from gritty and crunchy to bright and round. Even more impressively, Origami Angel have managed to create eight stellar songs that feel as though there’s no emptiness, no SPACE where attention or momentum could be lost. The soft parts of the songs have no weakness; the large walls of sound don’t seem overwhelming, but full and warm. It feels like everything is very purposely placed, nothing haphazard or rushed. And as the mixtape fades out with that same ukulele, the same lyrics, and that comforting sound of ocean waves – It just feels natural to let the whole thing repeat

August Greenberg (they/them) is a music lover from Philadelphia, PA, who has written for Spinning Thoughts and had a journey within the music scene by fronting the indie band Riverby. They love good music and never wanna shut up about it.

PONY – Velveteen | Album Review

/

Take This To Heart Records

There are some experiences of the “CD Era” that just haven’t been replicated by the vinyl boom. Like the feeling of digging through a $1 CD bin at a record or thrift store and discovering the coolest fucking thing you’ve ever heard. Sure, there are $1 vinyl bins too, but it’s pretty rare you’ll find an alternative gem like Frente’s Marvin The Album or Radish’s Restraining Bolt amongst the Pat Boone and Mitch Miller. Maybe that was how you discovered Come On Feel The Lemonheads, and you hearing “Into Your Arms” immediately reminded you of your longtime crush. Maybe you make them a mix CD and use it as the opening track, followed by “Hey Jealousy” and “One Headlight.” Maybe I’m revealing too much about myself. It’s that sense of being in on some musical secret you want to share with someone special, the feeling of complete effervescence, and the feeling of falling in love for the very first time. That’s what it’s like listening to Velveteen, the sophomore album by Canadian rock trio PONY.

I’ve been following the Toronto band since their 2017 EP Do You, a succinct selection of emotional alt-rock made instantly personable by singer-songwriter Sam Bielanski. After a smattering of singles, including a cover of Robbie Hart’s proto-fourth-wave classic “Somebody Kill Me Please,” the band’s debut album TV Baby landed in 2021. This release was a clear step up, a more fully realized project anchored by catchy singles like “Chokecherry” and “Couch.” The album also cemented PONY’s core lineup of Bielanski and now-partner Matty Morand, who plays bass for the group and has previous credits with Self Defense Family and Lychi. While I enjoyed TV Baby enough, I was patiently anticipating a follow-up that would pack even more of a sticky-sweet punch. Velveteen is far more than I could have asked for, absolutely skyrocketing the band to guitar-pop perfection.

I think of albums like Bark Your Head Off, Dog by Hop Along, or Mood Ring by Kississippi in the same context as Velveteen. All three are standout voices of emo and indie rock that built off the formula from their previous album and found the uppermost echelon it could reach. This isn’t to say that I think Frances Quinlan, Zoe Allaire Reynolds, or Sam Bielanski “sold out” or purposefully delivered a more accessible project, but there’s a notable increase of energy and yearning on all three of these albums that eclipses their predecessors. On Velveteen, that energy is introduced without any reservations on album opener “Très Jolie,” its guitar intro is unavoidably attention-grabbing before Bielanski begins the first verse. “Do you ever picture us together? Standing beneath the glitter in the sky.” Then, the beautifully simple chorus: “I wanna kiss you. I wanna make you mine. I wanna lie to you and say that I am fine.” It’s a statement of intent not open to interpretation, the first of ten top-notch pop-rockers.

Those blissful and sugary hooks don’t let up anytime soon. “Peach” follows suit with a Mandy Moore-meets-Green Day attitude. “Picturing the salt of the beach, ‘cause I don’t want to drown in the taste of this peach.” My personal favorite on the album is “Sick,” a song that should be the biggest hit of the Summer in every major market. It’s another sensational power pop anthem that delivers guitar power and bubblegum pop equally. The electronic tinges in the production remind me of recent releases from Crushed and Hatchie, both artists who have been riding the line of ‘90s-influenced alt and pop perfectly. If a remake of 10 Things I Hate About You is in the works, this song should be a shoo-in for the credits, with PONY playing Letters To Cleo.

In Velveteen’s 35 minutes, not one of the ten songs fails to get stuck in your head for at least a little while. Like the bright landscape of “Sucker Punch” or the dreamy fuzz of “Haunted House.” If I had unearthed this record from a shop’s clearance bin, “Who’s Calling” would have been the centerpiece for my heartfelt mix CD roster; a song that channels the desire of calling your love interest but being too scared to say something. With lyrics like “Are you home all alone thinking about me? Wondering why the phone keeps ringing?” and “Can you tell that it’s me by the way that I breathe?” So far, it’s now 2023’s second great Canadian indie rock song that I’ve reviewed about reminiscing on phone calls after “Telephone” by Andy Shauf.

It’s almost overwhelming how great every track here is, making it extremely difficult to say anything other than “a perfect pop song” about each of them. When the second side of an album is just as strong as the first, filled with sharp cuts like “Did It Again” and “Sunny Rose,” it’s simply a testament to Bielanski and Morand’s compositional chops. Morand leads a project of his own called Pretty Matty, whose 2019 self-titled album (and recently released Heavenly Sweetheart) could fit right in rotation with Velveteen. It’s clear that their shared musical loves contribute to their strong personal chemistry.

“French Class” is the one notable moment of deviation, but it doesn’t feel out of place at all. The mostly electronic-led track is a longing ballad, describing someone who “will never be mine, my heart breaks with every breath they take.” The music video is a composite of various lo-fi footage, enhancing the affection of its narrator from afar.

I still purchase physical media whenever I can, but there’s one crucial element of music streaming that echoes CD collecting in a big way. Everyone who’s had a car with a CD player has experienced leaving the same disc inside of it for days, maybe even weeks, without changing it. Letting it go from the last track of an album right back to the first, an endless loop of excitement and obsession as you drive around. Thankfully, most digital streaming platforms have an “album repeat” button that has the same effect, and Velveteen is the poster child for the feature. From the final moments of “Haircut,” it seems required to start the whole album over and listen again. Considering you could fit two full runs of the LP on one CD if you wanted to, and with how addictive every song is, it makes cycling through Velveteen multiple times a no-brainer.

PONY has consistently released difficult-to-deny pop bangers since their inception, but it’s with Velveteen that they reached a monolithic height in the form of a second album. It’s impossible to listen to this thing without having a smile on my face every time, embarrassingly bobbing my head and sliding across my worksite floor throughout the entire runtime. For anyone as in love with ‘90s alternative as I am, you absolutely cannot miss this one. It’s appropriately nostalgic while still undeniably current, wearing its influences on its sleeve while not being fully reliant on them. Velveteen is an album destined to begin again, poised for North American superstardom, and a perfect soundtrack for heart eyes and butterfly stomachs.

Logan Archer Mounts once almost got kicked out of Warped Tour for doing the Disturbed scream during a band’s acoustic set. He currently lives in Rolling Meadows, IL, but tells everyone he lives in Palatine.