The Daily Spin, February 22
Remi Wolf | Juno
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: Juno (2021)
Artist: Remi Wolf
Link:
Remi Wolf establishes and further defines her niche with Juno, but leaves something to be desired in her pursuit of the quirky.
It’s a classic tale, joyful music with deeper underlying meaning - and on the surface, Wolf does it brilliantly. Masterfully crafted beats work under clever hooks to form a zany rainbow of euphoria. It feels like it was music designed to get high to, and I respect that sort of dedicated audience craftsmanship, but it does leave pieces to be desired.
At its heart, this is a joyful album about joyless pursuits - and there’s something decidedly appealing about all that, as she makes light of things that we’ve all dealt with through funky jams. It’s enjoyable to hear her decry the things I’ve vented about to friends so many times over a beat that simultaneously has me bopping my head, and that’s the backbone of this album - brilliantly worked.
At the same time, though, it all feels a little inauthentic - whether by design or not, there’s only so many ways to dress a pig without acknowledging it’s a pig, and Wolf misses in this album here. As fun as it is to lean into the wild and absurd, whether an escapist fantasy or just because it’s fun, the album definitely drags a little long on this dream, and I found myself wishing that Wolf had backed down a tick, if only to step out of the character for a second, as though to give the serious moments their time to shine without the falsified levity.
Rating: 7.6/10
Best Tracks: Quiet On Set
Worst Tracks: Liquor Store