After nearly two years of silence, underground artist Underscores is back with her highly anticipated sophomore studio album “Wallsocket” saving the year with a refreshing and unique take on hyperpop music.
After the overwhelming success of her debut album “fishmonger” in 2021, Underscores would release one more EP before going silent on all social media platforms. However, her hype would return after releasing the lead single “Cops and robbers” for her new album on May 3, 2023, which received high ratings. That hype would further grow on July 12 when she officially announced her new album “Wallsocket” making fans extremely excited for her return. Upon release, the album received positive feedback and many agreed it was her best work yet, garnering over 150,000 streams in the first 24 hours.
In the midst of the explosive reception of hyperpop music in late 2020-early 2021, Underscores released her debut album “fishmonger” which ranked top 100 of the highest rated albums of 2021. The album gained so much traction that it got the attention of artists such as Travis Barker from Blink-182 and the electronic duo 100 gecs, who would help produce later songs in her discography as well as tour with her.
When I saw that Underscores would be making a return, I was beyond excited considering her debut was one of my favorite albums of all time.
“I got to take the past year off and [I] stayed in this town Wallsocket,” Underscores stated in an Instagram post on April 21, 2023.
Wallsocket however is not a real town, it’s presumably a sub-urban midwestern town created by Underscores for context of what the album is about. The project talks about subjects relating to depression, growing up and other triggering dark topics.
The album spans a total of 12 songs, but my favorites are “Horror movie soundtrack” and “Uncanny long arms.” The project features artists such as Gabby Start, Henhouse! and Jane Remover.
“Horror movie soundtrack” is the seventh track on the record and is by far the calmest song on the tracklist, a complete 180 turn considering the previous songs were very upbeat and production-driven. This song is about how she doesn’t feel happy in life, despite living a semi-materialistic lifestyle. It also covers her dislike towards the people who were responsible for her mental decline as well as society in general. This song is one of my favorites on the project because of how calm and slow it is in contrast to the “hyper” songs heard previously on the album as well as the relatability within the lyrics.
My favorite track on the record, “Uncanny long arms” is the second to last song on the album. Sonically, the production is one of the best things I’ve ever heard. This track has some of the stronger lyrical performances on the record and talks about themes such as depression and growing up. This song features Jane Remover, one of my personal favorite artists of all time and an artist I’ve been anticipating new releases from. The chorus which reads “What is happening to me?” is sung in a way that sounds like Underscores and Jane are screaming for reassurance, yet can’t quite grasp their reality of getting older. I really enjoyed the production on this song because I felt it was more experimental than her previous songs, which I think she executed extremely well.
Overall, I rate this album a 9/10. I think Underscores was able to create a more superior album than her previous one, although there were still some parts that I think she could improve on. I am extremely intrigued to see what she will release next, but until then, “Wallsocket” will be in constant rotation.
There have been some great releases this year so far, but this is by far the most exciting record I’ve had the pleasure of hearing.
