Rapid Fire Reviews: An Unquenchable Thirst For EPs

EPs come and EPs go. As long as the music industry keeps lining them up I'll keep doing my best to knock them down. Did any of that sound cool? Reading it back I don't think so. Let's just get to the reviews. Enjoy <3

Raving Dahlia EP - Sevdaliza

Sevdaliza is an Iranian singer-songwriter, who I was late to. The first time I heard her music was on her 2020 album Shabrang but it didn't take much engagement with her fanbase for me to realize that her EPs are a very important part of her discography and that's why I was really excited for this one. After reading about the concept of the "Raving Dahlia" and the projects attempt to take on unrealistic standards women in music are held to. One thing that clearly hasn't changed in two years and is impossible not to notice on the record is just how dominant of a vocal force Sevdaliza is. The EP wastes no time getting you introduced to her vocal prescence as the opening song is a very spark piece of chamber tinged singer-songwriter music with her vocals placed front and center with good results. The Great Hope Design is another big highlight with an eerie electronic laced beat and a near whispered vocal performance. All the minimalism comes together for a few high impact moments but its the eerie crawl of the songs most reserved passages that really draws me in. The EP is a bit of a mixed bag however. Everything Is Everything is probably my least favorite song particularly on the hook which unfolds in a very awkward way that never sounds any better no matter how many times I listen. I'm also not crazy about the remix of Oh My God that shows up on the end of the EP even though I've seen some love for it online. It isn't just that I prefer the original version of the song but also that it doesn't seem like it has anything to do with the rest of the tracks here or the concept, almost like a bonus track. Overall this EP, like every Sevdaliza project, shows off her immense talent and delivers a few great highlights. But I wouldn't say this is her most consistent bunch of tracks ever and with the scant tracklist of an EP, those misses stand out even more. 6/10

White Ceiling/Black Dots Wandering Around - Parannoul

Parannoul is an anonymous South Korean student who uploaded one of my favorite albums of 2021 to Bandcamp. To See The Next Part Of The Dream was one of the more remarkable breakouts of last year and has already cemented itself among other internet core greats. So I was obviously excited to see that Parannoul was going to be dropping more material from the creative space of the album. Black Dots seems to be their take on a B-Sides and Demos project featuring 5 brand new songs and an early demo version of my 2021 Song Of The Year White Ceiling. However the more you'll listen to this project the more you will hear vocal refrains or guitar leads that pop up on songs from the actual record, which makes it no surprise that these songs share a very similar sonic and emotional theme to Next Part. Unsurprisingly I didn't find these tracks quite as compelling as most of the final album, but I do still find the sonic aesthetic really appealing. The first thing that grabbed my attention on the project was the demo of White Ceiling given how much I adore the original track. Honestly I think the slimming down of the song was the right idea for as many enjoyable moments as the demo has it doesn't carry the momentum of the original nearly as well. Honestly as dumb as it sounds I really can break this record down into songs that are similar is sound and tone to the record whose sessions they originate from, but just not quite on the same level. That doesn't mean that there aren't highlights here though. The last two tracks in particular are major highlights with the sheer noise of the second half of Growing Pain being one of the harshest things I've heard on any Parannoul song so far. Ending Credit on the other hand feels like the first draft of what would become the album proper's closing track but absolutely everything that makes that song amazing shows up here. In fact given that this EP lasts nearly 50 minutes it's really satisfying to have a closing track with so much genuine finality to it. This EP is fine but I don't think it was intended to be anything more or less. It certainly hasn't done anything to diminish the immense hype I have for whatever Parannoul does next. 6.5/10

SZNZ: Spring - Weezer

Weezer is, well come on you know who Weezer is. The California pop rock band who have some absolutely amazing and some absolutely terrible albums in their discography. Just last year the band released two projects, firstly the excellent exploration into baroque pop on OK Human, and alternatively the hammed up butt rock of Van Weezer. This project actually works that dichotomy pretty well delivering a collection of pop leaning tracks that I would best describe as inconsistent. First off if you are somebody who pays attention to lyrics and expects them to be good, why are you listening to a Weezer album, you masochist. Seriously though there are plenty of lyrical cringe bombs dropped throughout these 7 songs and most of them aren't charming or self aware in their painfulness. With that out of the way though there are quite a few pop sensibilities on display across these tracks and the hooks will stick with you, for better or for worse. Calling this record "bad" would be reductive because there really are a lot of fundamentals at work here, it's more like boring. There isn't anything here that surprises me and moreover there isn't really that much that sticks with me beyond the hooks. I will likely be talking about Weezer at least 3 more times this year, so I'm comfortable saying that Spring isn't among my favorite of their project, though it certainly could have been much worse. 5/10