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Photo: Chris Yallen

After taking the year off to write music in Wallsocket, MI (I dare you to google it and go down that rabbit hole), multi-hyphenate hyperpop artist underscores is back with arguably her best album yet in Wallsocket. Using the album to reveal the happenings in the small American town, the body of work emerges as a fantastic display of genuine honesty and untamed artistry, with every track feeling like a portal into distinct lives. The album's exploration of resilience, affliction, and societal estrangement offers a poignant reflection on the human condition.

"I emerged from an obsessive episode adopting this mentality that everything is beautiful," shares underscores. "Wallsocket is about realizing that most things are, but not everything is. Wallsocket is about navigating adulthood as an American and reckoning with one's circumstance."

"Cops and robbers" kicks things off with a manic, bustling energy as teasing synth tones serve as the backdrop of the song's protagonist on the run from their own white-collar crimes. On the fritz guitar riffs and fizzy production lock listeners into the devilishly charismatic track, making us want to root for the robber. The following is the bratty "Locals (Girls like us)," which sees underscores team up with fellow rising star and producer gabby start. As three girls from the fictional town of Wallsocket discover what it means to grow up, frenetic energy fills the void, culminating in a semi-robotic party anthem.

Traversing through standout tracks like the biblical "Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" and narrative-driven "You don't even know who I am," "Horror movie soundtrack" comes out of nowhere with its glooming, creeping crescendos and moments of unease. Telling the story of a soldier dying, the track's lyrics cut deep as listeners are met with their final words. Backed by a solitary twang, dissonant guitar, the fallen soldier relays, "Send my love to the girls, I've always had it in spades," and uses their dying breath to curse the person who killed them, or maybe even society, chanting, "You won't get away with this," until the track fades into the ether.

The seven-minute glitching ode "Geez louise," featuring henhouse, is the definition of sonic whiplash in the best way possible. Starting with a fusion of hardcore and metal as thumping sub-basses duel for power, atonal, jarring guitar lines shine before the maddening descent into a subtle and ambient acoustic guitar-led plane. The bedroom pop passage then builds once more into an expansive, screaming, and distorted cloud of sound.

The instant earworm "Uncanny long arms" arrives as a personal favorite that sees the artist pair up with songwriter and producer Jane Remover. Starting soft and dreamy, the track's main character, Mara, wakes from a mysterious dream only to notice that now her "hands were in a different place than where they started." Chaos ensues with roaring instrumentation swirling every which way. Dying while getting her arms reduced, she returns to life with an epiphany that she has been putting on a front to everyone, including herself. The song's outro, which originally makes an appearance in "Kinko's field trip 2006"  from underscores's debut album fishmonger, is an all-consuming collage of soundscapes fueled by angsty, nostalgic guitar riffs and twinkling digi-core production.

The track's finale, "Good luck final girl," flirts with a twisting escapism and evokes moments of introspection seamlessly woven into the album's expansive narrative. Listeners sit back and take a long sigh as the town of Wallsocket and the people who live there say goodbye and good luck to their "final girl" on the soothing chorus. Verses from FG's perspective detail her journey and realizing that adulthood is partially about taking personal responsibility.

underscores has always undoubtedly been known for her eclecticism. Her debut album fishmonger, for example, cycled through hyperpop, garage punk, emo rap, dubstep, and psychedelic ambiance seamlessly, and, following in tradition, Wallsocket is the sound of an artist operating entirely, brilliantly on their own terms.

Listen to Wallsocket below: