The Daily Spin, May 10
Sylvan Esso | What Now
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: What Now (2017)
Artist: Sylvan Esso
Link:
This album reminds me a lot of Sjowgren and Generationals, hints of Local Natives and Future Islands bleeding through in the way that this is electronically influenced indie rock, the sort of music that could just as easily feature on a FIFA game as it might on network television.
They’ve set their Spotify artist bio as “pop music for feeling feelings” and while I think other artists do that a little better, frankly, it’s not an inaccurate descriptor by any means, especially considering What Now as a full body of work.
I’m left wanting a little more from basically every track, feeling like there’s some element of substance lacking in all regards - it’s not bad music, but it feels almost a little incomplete, as though you need to be feeling the right emotional puzzle piece to fit into this picture, and if you don’t, it’s really easy to feel a little isolated from this album.
Normally, for music like this, I’m someone who prefers acoustic focus with electronic elements taking a back seat, but I think the inverse would actually be true for this album - I, personally, feel as though adding the electronic elements fills empty space. It doesn’t crowd the rest of the music, rather it fills out the whole frame.
Rating: 7.7/10
Best Tracks: The Glow; Song
Worst Tracks: Radio