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Photo by Josephine Tulipe

London/Paris-based French indie rock artist bothsxdes dropped his hotly anticipated debut EP wholehearted today, where he oozes confidence across five tracks filled with a kaleidoscope of human emotion. Debut single, “twentytwenty,” released last year, was a promising preview of the kind of shapeshifting indie prowess bothsxdes unleashes on wholehearted, displaying that he is truly one to watch on a record that is as intimate as it is expansive. 

Standout track, “saysorry,” shimmers with a dreamy indie-rock glow, reminiscent of early Foals and Two Door Cinema Club. Of the track, bothsxdes says, “this is a song about yearning to be remembered. There’s a lot of bravado in the song, but it ends up just being a way of hiding how exposed and vulnerable I feel.”Those feelings of yearning and vulnerability are buffeted by lyrics like “I used a bucket of your tears to get baptized, ”that feel both intentionally over the top but with a real sincerity that reflects just how much bothsxdes longs for his listeners to meet him halfway. “If you know me you’ll know that I hate explaining what the music is about. I really believe that art is at its best when it’s given meaning by the receiver,” he said in a recent Instagram post talking about the EP. 

All the tracks on wholehearted were written, produced, mixed and mastered by bothsxdes, another testament to an artist whose intentionality is matched by his attention to detail and perfection - which is close to where wholehearted gets for a debut EP. “Doing everything I can and I know you know it,” he sings on “happytobehere.” I am too. 

Listen to wholehearted below: