Don’t judge an album by its opening track.
On their new studio album Sapsucker, Gorgeous explores a variety of different musical styles. From hyper-pop vocals to rock drums and guitar, ethereal undertones, musical theatre-esque singing and dynamic melodies. The whole album keeps you on your toes.
The opening track “Sweet” is sure to surprise listeners. The song features rock-like, distorted guitars and drums paired with soft and dainty ethereal vocals. As the album moves along, each song seems to gain more uniformity as well as mellow out a bit. This is the perfect example of an album that you need to give a chance since it might throw you for a bit of a loop at the start. By the end of the record, you will have at least a couple of songs stuck in your head.
Sapsucker, along with having rock and ethereal in the mix, also features some hyper-pop vocalization in the song “Elbow Stress Rash.” Like the first track “Sweet,” it features chaotic rock in the beginning which is poured with the hyper-pop vocals but as the song continues, it gains order and simmers down.
As the album moves along, the song “Raindrop” offers a more subtle start than the previous songs. It starts off a bit quieter and slower but is able to gain momentum and pick up towards the end of the track. This song is followed by “Tomato Tomato” which is very consistent in its beats while also acting as a short buffer in the middle of the album.
One song that really sticks out on this album is “If You Snooze, You’ll Lose Me.” Though the instrumentation in the back sounds a bit similar to the rest of the album, the vocals on this track almost sound like they were inspired by musical theater singing. The lyrics are clear and are often belted which makes for a very interesting and ear-perking track.
“Keep It Steady,” has the clearest vocals, making the album come full circle from the opening track, “Sweet” which features more muffled ethereal vocals. The track is one of the slower ones but is a very good way to wrap up this eccentric album.