Welcome back to the Daily Spin. For the uninitiated, this is the series in which I review an album every day of 2025.
As was the case two years ago, my favorite song from each album can be found at the playlist linked here.
Album: Lychee (2022)
Artist: BENEE
Link:
Very David-core music, in the sense that it’s indie pop I have a massive soft spot for. Not very David-core music in that it definitely leans a little too hard into “TikTok” music - not the first time I’ve railed against it, but I’ll be a dead man if I ever pass up on the opportunity to lock in and talk about why short songs are the worst thing to happen to music since the advent of stan culture (it all stems back to the fact that we’re losing the art of the bridge perfected by Timberlake and Timbaland).
All in all, though, this is perfectly acceptable indie music. BENEE sacrifices a more complex narrative in order to make more aesthetically pleasing music, and that’s not usually a trade I’m huge on - this remains true here, as I think the best parts of this record are so slathered in mayonnaise that there’s just nothing to make it actually land. When it’s good, it sounds like an early Clairo or an early Rex Orange County, but it doesn’t really stick with that sound consistently enough for me to think there’s the same star power behind this act.
Rating: 7/10
Best Tracks: Beach Boy
Worst Tracks: Hurt You, Gus