Release Radar: November 2021
At the end of each month, Afterglow presents a staff-picked list of new albums and singles that left an impression on our ears.
Written by Afterglow Staffers
Photos courtesy of Eve Fowler, Papercut, and Tricot
Here are our favorite albums and singles released during November 2021. For more reviews of recent releases, check out our album review page.
Shiny Singles We Loved This Month:
“Verde Nocturno” by Sofia Campos (feat. Natalia Lafourcade)
With her silky smooth voice and calming coastal beats, Sofia Campos creates a masterful piece of music perfect for the studious atmosphere of early December. The track stands out due to its beautiful acoustic guitar and stunning Spanish vocals: singing alongside Natalia Lafourcade, the artist creates an elegant harmony of calm and cozy hometown memories.
“Rakata” by Arca
This single from the Venezuelan singer-producer’s second installment of the Kick series is the equally glitchy pop track and reggaeton banger. Over pulsating synths and a dembow beat, Arca sings about a steamy club encounter.
“Kimi ni Muchuu” by Hikaru Utada
It’s hard not to take note when Hikaru Utada’s talents as a legend in Japanese pop and media (Kingdom Hearts and Evangelion 3.0+1.0) surface again, this time for the TV drama “Saiai.” Eagle-eyed fans will take special notice of the eccentric synths in the track, courtesy of hyperpop staple A. G. Cook, bringing Utada’s consistently cool delivery and lyricism to new levels.
The Romance of Affliction by SeeYouSpaceCowboy
Image courtesy of Pure Noise Records
If angsty metalcore and mid-aughts emo collided in a mosh pit and merged together, the result would be SeeYouSpaceCowboy’s sophomore album, The Romance of Affliction. While the California sasscore group has never been the type to limit itself to a single subgenre, as the band members declared by titling a 2019 track “Stop Calling Us Screamo,” The Romance of Affliction expands on the experimental aspects of their earlier work by contrasting the calm and the chaotic. Lead single “Misinterpreting Constellations” sees vocalist Connie Sgarbossa’s signature screams juxtaposed with clean vocals from her younger brother Ethan, who is also the band’s guitarist. Later into the album, a fast-paced breakdown in “Anything to Take Me Anywhere But Here” is suddenly interrupted by a soft indie rock-esque guitar solo, which subsequently fades into the mellow interlude “The Peace In Dissolution,” for a minute and a half of calm before the opening scream of “Melodrama Between Two Entirely Bored Individuals” launches listeners back into metalcore madness. SeeYouSpaceCowboy may be throwing everything at the wall here, but every effort sticks. The Romance of Affliction is as brilliant as it is brutal, and as cohesive as it is chaotic. — Audrey Vieira
Jodeki by Tricot
Image courtesy of AVEX ENTERTAINMENT
It’d be a mortal folly to simply brand Tricot’s records with a label as square and pretentious as “Japanese Math Rock Band.” Though you’d need obscure fan translations and a music theory dictionary to really pick apart Jodeki’s careful construction, novices to Tricot will instead find a sparkling, refreshing collection of gems that are every bit as gratifying as the work of the group’s cliché, poppy contemporaries. Jodeki continues the band’s usual complex imitation game, hooking listeners with optimistic J-Rock beats and Ikkyu Nakajima’s sunny vocals before the album’s off-kilter tendencies and strange rhythms start to unravel. “KAYAKO (カヨコ)” presents a blindingly relaxed city-venturing anthem that’s almost too conventional next to Tricot’s usual irregularities, while “Inai (いない)” captures the band’s usual enigmatic fare (“Your voice that I’ll never hear is a curse on me”). “Walking (餌にもなれない)” instead meanders into one of Tricot’s fantastical daydreamy spiels, this time heralding an impending apocalypse of shut-in salary workers. “In the streets, a group of zombies who ate their fill / Walking, walking / At the conspicuously shiny convenience store,” beckons Nakajima over a volley of howls and aggressive drumbeat in constant flux. A Spotify biography for the Kyoto-based ensemble has the audacity to claim its “harmonization is not created on purpose,” but it takes more than luck to conceal math rock’s standoffish calculus with such a deceptively sugary veneer. — Raymond Lam
Hyd by Hyd
Image courtesy of PC Music
In this new EP from PC Music signee Hyd, the artist, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, displays a more intimate version of themself to unfamiliar audiences. Prior to their EP’s release, the musician became famous under their former pseudonym QT for another PC Music song, “Hey QT.” Produced by A.G. Cook and late producer SOPHIE, this track put PC Music on the map, but many did not know the person behind the QT persona. After a seven-year hiatus, the artist has returned with a new stage name, delivering a fantastic, stripped-down pop EP filled to the brim with classic hyper-pop influences. In the opening track, “No Shadow,” Hyd gives the listener a soft-pop ballad that reminisces on the dichotomous nature of light and dark, ending as a harsh guitar instrumental that truly wraps up the song perfectly. The playfully sexy “Skin 2 Skin” is accompanied by Hyd’s chilling whispers, as they ask their partner to “ride on the slip and slide.” The latter half of the EP still keeps the characteristic PC Music hyperpop sound, with a more contemporary pop take. Hyd opts for a stripped down guitar on the classic pop ballad “The Look on Your Face,” while still incorporating the glitchy percussions of hyperpop.“The One” is a love song that mourns the loss of a relationship using a more slowed down, yet hauntingly avant-garde electronic sound. Overall, Hyd is a fantastic listen for the fans of the bubblegum, PC Music sound. — Adam Cherian
Flight Risk EP by Tommy Lefroy
Image courtesy of Tommy Lefroy
With its clean production and sincere lyricism, Flight Risk EP is a promising debut for Tommy Lefroy. The soft-rock duo settles itself nicely in the genre of Phoebe Bridgers and friends, where instrumentalism is a mere backdrop to the deeply personal lyrical performance. Sentiments like “I read a story about somebody / Who drove his family off a bridge / I have a feeling that’s what’s happening / But I don’t know which of us it is” from the track “Shoot” display a simultaneous self-awareness and command of metaphor that convince listeners that the name Tommy Lefroy will stick around. “Trashfire” is a rightfully melodramatic reflection on growing older, accurating capturing the existentialism of aging with lyrics like “You only get a few more candles / Before you’re too old to try again.” “The Cause” is the standout track of the EP, with a steady kickdrum and the duo expressing the hopelessness of trying to live up to a lover’s expectations before closing with the mantra, “How could I ever be enough?” Angsty girls, hopeless romantics, and the like should definitely keep an eye out for these two in 2022. — Ellen Daly
Support Tommy Lefroy on Spotify and Apple Music.
GODLESS by Devil Electric
Image courtesy of Devil Electric
GODLESS, the newest album from four-piece Australian group Devil Electric, is a sinister explosion of sound quickly finding its way into the hearts of doom and stoner rock fans everywhere. A solid mix of Master of Reality-era Black Sabbath instrumentation and the vocal melodies of Heart, the band adds its own brand of theatricality to the sludge that defines its music. The album opener, “I Am,” is filled with chugging yet precise guitar riffs that seem to lead the listener on a downward spiral. Frontwoman Pierina O’Brien’s powerful voice cuts through the fuzz with its own unique grit, and the bass in the outro mesmerizes with its dirty tone. The lead single, “All My Friends Move Like The Night,” energizes the listener and features a nebulous guitar solo, providing a breath of fresh air from the rest of the LP’s trudging landscape. The album’s closing track starts off slow and vulnerable, with O’Brien showing off her more gentle vocal abilities, before it returns to the cranked up distortion that Devil Electric does so well. GODLESS walks the line between annoyed and pissed off, surprisingly empowering the listener with its boldness and rage. — Victoria Canales
Baxter’s Bliss EP by Papercuts
Image courtesy of Psychic Friends Records
Baxter’s Bliss EP, Papercuts’ first release since 2018 album Parallel Universe Blues, showcases guitar-centered soft pop reminiscent of lead singer Jason Quever’s previous work with Beach House and Luna. With a cohesive melancholic quality, the five-track project relies on a permeating guitar sound and Quever’s soft and pensive vocals, exploring how they align and affect tone. The first song, “A Dull Boy,” particularly reveals Beach House’s effect on Quever’s music: its retrospective exploration of identity makes it the quintessential “sad boy indie” tune. “Try Baxter’s Bliss” continues Quever’s emotionally explorative lyrics but takes a more psychedelic approach. Balancing gentle and dreamy lyrics with a lulling drumming pattern and distorted guitars, this track separates the listener from their environment and embodies the EP cover’s quote: “What a dream. Utter isolation.” “When Will You Come Home” introduces the album’s contemplative tone from a perspective of yearning. As Quever sings extended phrases over the guitar’s steady drumming pattern, his vocals align with the wistful lyrics while the world (the guitar) moves on. Departing from an entirely pop sound, “The Partisan” has clear folk and country influences in its instrumentation and ballad-like lyrics, effortlessly interpreting Americana guitar techniques through a soft pop lens. “End Times Daily” is the perfect closing track to Baxter’s Bliss EP with its thoughtful and existential lyrics. Reminiscent of a bittersweet conclusion of a coming-of-age movie, Papercuts combines the previous songs’ varying emotions into a subtly devastating piece sure to stay on listeners’ minds. — Caroline Harrison