When Dijon released Baby, a friend told me the album prompted a feeling of yearning. The feeling that she wanted to “have someone that thinks of me in that way.” Dijon’s work is often symbolic of love, but Baby brings a whole new and more intimate perspective to his craft. While his last album, Absolutely, explores the challenges of young, sometimes toxic love, Baby invites us into the controlled chaos of long-term relationships. Through velvety instrumentals and a raw vocal delivery, the music oozes humanity and warmth. With claps, group harmonies, and even his own child’s voice, we hear love’s softness while also hearing complex electronic bends and swells that pervade each song, reflecting the layered nature of love itself.
Getting Killed exhibits Geese’s masterful ability to shift from tone to tone while remaining completely recognizable. From the tense explosions of sound on “Trinidad” to the groovy transition they create at the end of “Islands of Men,” the album is an exploration of sound, wit, and unique musicianship. It’s an intergenerationally sound record that still pushes boundaries and stays true to Geese's experimental nature. It uses funky drum beats, rock n’ roll guitars, and unexpected rhythm sections to completely enthrall the listener. The breakdown on “Bow Down” is one of my favorites of all time, a concoction of human-made, unintelligible instruments of sound. It’s truly a one-of-a-kind album and, if I can get salty for a second, the people that say they don’t like it are frankly just butthurt they don’t get it.
Pain to Power is a striking example of how the instruments in the songs that we love can serve as a vehicle for power. With tracks heavily grounded in their instrumental sections, Maruja shows how a saxophone can wail, a drum set can protest, and how guitar strings can can grip. The album's lyrics enhance this, featuring lines rooted in dismantling oppressive power structures and confronting broad societal issues that extend far beyond the band's UK origins. They tackle subjects such as capitalism, the genocide in Palestine, and oligarchic systems, using their musicianship to nail the themes into the listener. It's an extremely powerful record that is best listened to with a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, but an open mind.
