Outsideness – …Then After?
Freidrich$ and Azalias collaborate together once again under the moniker Outsideness. Their first and bravely experimental album, …From What?, is covered here by yours truly. Outsideness returns to buffaBLOG triumphantly with their second album, …Then After?. Freidrich$ and Azalias definitively improve their songcraft on their sophomore release, which is a solid expansion of their repertoire exploring and combining genres like R&B, rock, folk, and IDM.
“Alright” is the first track off this album. There are delayed, thawing keys that melt away your stress. The baritone vocals from Freidrich$ seem bit-crushed. “I said I am done hearing it all in my head,” is a sentiment that the silent harrowingly bear. The mix is sparse, but it is atmospheric, creating a relaxing aural environment. The next song, “Freedom,” has very gentle, bittersweet acoustic guitar – it’s more a love song. The guitar is mainly in the left ear, moving across the head and turning into soft ohs in the right. Eventually, the whole song turns into sticky-sweet mush, with chorused electric guitar leading a smooth transition from singer-songwriter to IDM.
“Container” features a wood block that pops open your mind – its centrality is a focal point, and the reverb from it pushes outward. A harp-like arpeggio dances between the phones before the song becomes stunningly sensual. Honestly, this conversion caught me completely off-guard, and I think Outsideness is clever in its application. After the trip-hop percussion and exceptional vocal performance heard on “Got Me” comes Song Seven, “La Jetee.” Track seven starts off with sullen folk and tight drums. Freidrich$ can be heard announcing, “I like to lose myself in a different era / In my imagination / When I didn’t worry so much.” The acoustic six-string plays a pleasant, 90s singer-songwriter melody, but Azalias and her teammate morph the song from that genre into something completely unique.
The following song, “Dance,” demonstrates a future potential niche, and after “Water” comes the closing number, “Hold.” The percussion is fat and wet with big hi-hats. Vinyl crackles and steady, understanding acoustic riff-age can be heard in both ears. “Hold” somehow bursts into an Adult Swim-esque, jazzy mix (think about the music FlyLo wrote for those strange commercials). The song remains large-and-in-charge until the end, though one can tell the protagonist is clearly stuck in unescapable emotion.
All in all, Outsideness has outdone themselves with the work found in …Then After?. The amount of experimentation happening in this album is certainly intriguing. …Then After? is FFO of Gonjasufi, Ghostpoet, and Drake. Broaden your musical horizons and allow Outsideness to be your spiritual guide. Listen to the new album on Spotify and Soundcloud.
Categorised in: Album Reviews
This post was written by Jake Sessanna