With the shuttering of PC Music last year, hyperpop is left in a bizarre limbo. I personally find declarations of its death or retreat from relevance overblown. However, it is undeniable that, even as aesthetics and production pioneered by the house that SOPHIE built penetrate further into popular music than ever before, the output and trailblazing of this supergenre seemingly in its larval stage has waned in the past two or three years. Umru’s percussion is heard all over kpop, Camilla Cabello is ripping off Charli xcx so hard I’m surprised nobody got sued, and yet many of the movement’s titans are pivoting elsewhere. 100 gecs dipped into nu metal. food house appear to be permanently on tour with no new music in years. With this ambiguous backdrop, the billing of this new (lengthy!) LP from PC Music demigod and father of hyperpop A. G. Cook as, subtextually, a dialogue with the genre rather than a straightforward presentation of it is all the more intriguing. As the title implies, Britpop, like its namesake did with grunge, aims to offer an alternative take on hyperpop, in essence taking the same component parts and rearranging them into something novel. A musical counterrevolution, if you will. Cook does this by presenting the listener with three distinct sections.
The first section is a pretty straightforward helping of what we’ve come to expect from the producer. It’s also, by a narrow margin, my favorite section. Cook out of all the originators of hyperpop has spawned my most preferred crop of artistic descendants, with umru, himera, gupi, petal supply et al. tracing their musical roots back to him at least in part. Part 1is an irony free celebration of this sound. Its not perfect, of course. The title track, despite some very well-applied drums, is overly repetitive and has more of Lipgloss’ DNA than I personally care for. It does illustrate, however, Charli XCX’s Bieberesque utility as a muse for a particularly forward-thinking producer. As Bieber was to Skrillex & DJ Snake, so Charli was for Cook, SOPHIE, and Brady. Crescent Sun doesn’t really reach a satisfying peak, fortunately it’s followed by a prime example of old school PC Music, Heartache. The lead single and opener, Silver Thread Golden Needle, is an endlessly captivating panorama of shimmering, jittery dance music bordering on prog house. You Know Me has a fun rhythm at first, then slowly pushes into a texture somewhere adjacent to happy hardcore. Another slab of vocal manipulation and synth hooks arrives with Prismatic, this one more whimsical while also stiffer. I’m not sure it’s all that good for dancing, but it’ll certainly brighten my commute. Television is simply outstanding, twisting an addictive groove through layer after layer of goopy synth and highly artificial claps. The first section of this behemoth of an album concludes with Luddite Factory Operator, an orgy of synth and vocal fragments that gives me the auditory feeling, at first, of a McDonald’s milkshake on my teeth, or drinking sweet tea after brushing. Eventually an ascending bass melody establishes some momentum, betraying Cook’s sensibilities as a guitarist, then the final 90 seconds are a cathartic burst of fizz and that one choral voice setting that comes with every keyboard. Beautiful.
Part 2, the present, is an exploration of Cook as a…more conventional artist? I.e., guitar, voice, keyboard, and little else. Serenade is a pretty good proof of concept, though I do note it’s entirely hook. The early portion of the “Present” kinda runs together, but Crone has a beautiful melody, and, in a rarity for this kind of music, is in 6/8! Greatly is beautiful, with a vocal effect almost as extreme as talkboxing. Bewitched is the grungiest offering, as Cook details his admiration of his lover, transfixed not only by her beauty but by her tenacity. In short, it’s prime Wife Guy music, and would have made for an ideal single had he not opted to leave parts 2 & 3 a mystery before release. SOPHIE was the greatest to ever do it. She left the world too soon. Cook is perhaps the most fitting artist to give her one last tribute, and Without is a beautiful final message to his longtime associate. I was holding it together until I realized the lyrics were in part taken from her music.
Part 3 is a synthesis of the once bleeding edge production exemplified by the first part with the 90s alt sensibilities and intimate staging of the second. Lucifer is a standout, with a great performance from Charli XCX anchoring some incredible synth pop. Emerald is phenomenal, sounding like the next evolution of Acid and prompting me to wonder what a collaboration between this artist and G Jones or Eprom might sound like. After a shorter sonic experiment-the nigh atonal Butterfly Craft-comes Equine, with one of the stronger grooves of the album and some pleasant piano embellishments on the second half as well. WWW, despite a frustrating fake-out early on, develops into a pleasant slice of Flumesque, clattering noise. This right here demonstrates how this London twink has become the musical ancestor of a whole generation of electronic musicians. Pink Mask centers on the artist’s raspy vocals, building an intimate soundscape of harmonies not unlike a Gorillaz ballad, but with angelic, pastel watercolors. It’s extremely pretty. And, finally, Out of Time is a pounding endurance test similar to the opener, bowling the listener over with a firehose of fizzy synth and rapid kick drums that gradually unfolds into a melodic, charming melodic pattern, before finally coming to rest.
This album functions as a transition into the next chapter of whatever PC Music was: hyperpop? The frontier of dance music? This musical Socratic dialogue arrives at a compelling synthesis of Cook’s sensibilities as both a songwriter and producer that will doubtless inspire further waves of innovation from his contemporaries. STRONG 9/10, an excellent use of your afternoon.
intentionalnachos 