This should have been released 3 years ago.
The pop of a bolt-action rifle, cocked and loaded, kicks off "Shoot to Kill, Kill Your Darlings" - a song with a lighthearted, child-like cadence that is betrayed by its comparably cynical storytelling of ROTC graduates off to war. For Underscores, a.k.a April Grey, musical immaturity is an effective tool in Wallsocket, allowing her to navigate thorny topics under the protective guise of adolescent guilelessness. Take the tongue-in-cheek earworm "Johnny Johnny Johnny," for instance, which recounts a salacious relationship between an 11yr old and her middle-aged heartthrob. Meanwhile, the title and chorus hold a double entendre as her risqué love interest and as a popular children’s hand game: a derisive demonstration of the girl’s youthful inexperience. Hyperpop and lyrical depth is an unlikely combination, but one long overdue.
It’s about time an artist had the guts to prove hyperpop's worth as more than one-trick-pony gimmicks and autotuned, simpleminded vocals. At this point, hyperpop isn’t novel: The decade-long rise and fall of record label PCMusic concluded its reign this year; it’s been 7 years since CharliXCX’s infamous EP Vroom Vroom; the genre’s flagship record, 1000 Gecs, is already shrouded in nostalgia. Unfortunately, this creates an identity crisis for a brand that relies on novelty as its main selling point. Hyperpop seems consigned to being a fad: a spectacle to laugh at and then move on. It’s not helpful that hyperpop is widely considered to be an inherently queer genre (April is trans herself), succeeding only in fostering bigotry in elitists who ridicule it as mindless and unnecessarily garish.
This should not be construed as an attack on hyperpop’s merits. I am unabashedly partisan towards the genre: 10000 Gecs is one of this year’s most tasteful and innovative records, displaying significant evolution of the “Gecs” formula; Frost Children singles such as "Sick Trip" and "HI 5" haven’t left my rotation for six months now. However, to me, hyperpop has already played its best hand. Mapping new territory is over, and the focus has turned to building within instead of expanding horizons. Imagine my surprise, then, when Wallsocket flipped my expectations upside-down by going all-in on an entirely original paradigm, and pulling a winning ace.
12 songs, 54 minutes, 1 person. Wallsocket possesses a massive ego: There really is no margin for error when an album’s arrogance can only be interpreted from the two postures of narcissism or bravery. From the first track, "Cops and Robbers," it quickly becomes unmistakable that April has dispelled any creative reservations apparent on her 2021 full-length debut, Fishmonger. A fantastical bank heist, set in the very real town of Wallsocket, MI, brings rocking crime-thriller adrenaline to low-country America. Clocking in at over 4 minutes - like many of the tracks on Wallsocket - April has unrestricted agency to fulfill what is customary for most other genres: multifaceted song structures, including a hook, a bridge, and chorus evolution. Realistically, this should be the bare minimum, but when precedent reveals that hyperpop singles usually don’t make it past three minutes, it’s a revelation.
In contrast to the punk-rock overture, "Locals (Girls like us)" introduces the dubstep, electro-pop inclinations of the album. In many ways, it’s a more authentic glimpse of Wallsocket’s intended impression of a homespun, computer-born project. Indeed, Wallsocket is a Zoomer anthem; you’re unlikely to find ordinary parents listening to "Johnny Johnny Johnny" during their free time. At only 23 years old, April might already be outgrowing her target audience - a testament to hyperpop’s transient role in maturing music taste. 10 years from now, I will re-review this album as a measure of this theory (hold me to my word). Maybe I will be proven wrong.
Of course, it wouldn’t be hyperpop without its cursory gimmicks, but at least Wallsocket doesn’t bank on them to the point where its virtues seem counterfeit. An example would be the sappy, slow-blow track "Duhhhh[x17]," where a repeated sample of ‘duhhhh’ plays ad nauseam. What a stupid concept. Generally, this would be adequate grounds for me to stop listening and start believing the music industry is doomed. Unfortunately, "Duhhhh[x17]" is my favorite off the album, so it seems I’m just as much to blame. The term ‘soundscape’ has become trite, but there’s nothing else that can properly categorize the walls of noise that crash over the back-half of this track like a needle to the fabric of sound itself. I can only imagine this is what Pitchfork experienced when they listened to Loveless for the first time.
The same description extends to various other moments on the album as well, such as the final crescendo of the 7-minute-long noise-pop / folk / ambient Frankenstein "Geez Louise," or the supernatural transformation of "Uncanny Long Arms," which features everyone's other favorite trans-alternative-hyperpop act Jane Remover (whose latest album releases in two weeks; not to provoke competition, but we’ll have to see who emerges victorious). Credit where credit is due, this is where Wallsocket excels the most - when the production is so complete, and so absolute, that you’re forced to obey its will or get swept off your feet.
It’s quite the mic drop, then, that the final track, "Good Luck Final Girl," is the sparsest of them all. In fact, the final minute is barely music, and instead we receive the end-chapters of all the various plotlines that have been burgeoning over the album’s course in the form of cryptic verses. I’m not going to spoil these, and honestly, they’re secondary to the music itself, but I always appreciate when artists plant easter eggs for their audience. The easiest recurrence to notice is the catchphrase ‘good luck!’, which appears as a jumpscare in almost every song. If Underscores fashions her own multiverse in her next album, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Wallsocket is a step in the right direction for hyperpop. It’s a step towards a world where hyperpop holds the same stature and influence that traditional genres such as rock and hip-hop hold, and I don’t consider that an exaggerated inference. I will always argue that hyperpop is not just loud pop: It’s the most important musical revolution of the decade, and the extent of its leverage is probably greater than anyone realizes. For recognition, however, the genre needs to be taken seriously - and Wallsocket is a good start.
Stream Wallsocket: Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Vinyl
Thank you for reading!!!
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