Album Anniversaries: 5 Years Later, Superorganism’s Eponymous Debut Remains A Psychedelic Soundscape of Modern Complexities

Sampling camera shutters, bubbling liquids, and crunchy apples, the experimental pop group’s self-titled debut remains an immersive time capsule of twenty-first-century sounds and issues, five years later.

In Album Anniversaries, writers honor their favorite aging albums and their subsequent 

legacies, revealing which projects have stood the test of time.

Written by Wayne Lim

Photo courtesy of Jordan Curtis Hughes

Chirping birds soar across a vast sonic expanse, leaving trails of psychedelic sliding guitar riffs and a hopping synth against a steady percussion backing, interrupted only by then 17 frontwoman Orono Noguchi. She murmurs, “I know you think I’m a psychopath,” in “Something For Your M.I.N.D.” The formerly eight-piece act’s debut single swells into a visceral soundscape including the punchy crunch of an apple, the hypnotic bubbling of water, and the occasional background yelp, all layered over a sample of C’hantal’s “The Realm.”

As if breaking into the world of psychedelic pop with their offbeat Adventure Time-esque sound wasn’t enough of a statement, the motley crew of digital natives dove in through the windows of the Internet. They discovered one another on YouTube, regrouped on Facebook, and even collaborated on their debut single through emails.

And so formed the musical family, Superorganism. The electropop group would then move in under one roof — with the exception of Sydney-based member Soul — at the East End of London, going on to release their self-titled debut album on March 2, 2018.

Image courtesy of Domino Recording Company

Fast-forward five years, and the eclectic group’s 33-minute eponymous LP remains a time capsule of 21st-century sounds. Opener “It’s All Good” ushers in a light calming drizzle with a ticking bedside clock on a lazy morning. “Good morning Orono, you are awake / The weather today is dark / Would you like to get up? / Or perhaps, do nothing, nothing,” greets a robotic voice. “Everybody Wants To Be Famous” follows, echoing the capitalist critiques of Pink Floyd’s “Money,” sampling cash registers, camera shutters, and popping champagne bottles. From the sneezing explosion in “Nobody Cares,” to the video game sound effects in “Nai’s March,” closing with the closing yawn of “Night Time,” Superorganism creates a contemporary psychedelic sound while never staying comfortable with familiar musical instruments. The band’s bold experimentation is palpable even in their live acoustic performances, with shoes, soda, and a toy car as makeshift percussion instruments. 

The Japanese frontwoman’s laconic yet quirky lyricism further grounds the album in the eccentric cartoonish soundscape created by her Kiwi bandmates. Noguchi impassively insists, “It makes me feel alive / Sat in bed lit by the light / Of a silly gif playing on repeat” (“Reflections On A Screen”), and deadpans, “I’m happy just being a prawn” (“The Prawn Song”). Yet these seemingly nonsensical phrases perfectly capture the band’s attitude towards the ever-relevant issues of the wild world around them. In alluding to prawns’ innocence and unassuming complexity, Noguchi criticizes the violence of humanity. “Nai’s March” reveals fears about climate change (“I'm afraid of what's going to happen / When every bedroom flattens / And everything falls in the sea”), while “Reflections On The Screen” magnifies the Internet’s effects on modern romance.

Since 2018, the indie-pop collective has become a quintet, releasing their sophomore album World Wide Pop (2022), which builds on the world of sound established by Superorganism and blasts off into the cosmos. Superorganism captures the possibilities and complexities of the modern world — to which the band owes their existence in the first place — but World Wide Pop goes beyond the marvels of the interconnected world and reveals how minuscule our world really is within this infinite universe.

Superorganism’s identity lies in their range, their sound samples, and the members’ nationalities and ages. Now, having contributed to the revival of psychedelia in indie pop through their exploration of the present world and  futuristic universe — even if their recent tour did not see them shooting for outer space — our guides of the cosmos leave us wondering where they will bring us next.