On March 20, April Harper Gray, better known as underscores, released her third studio album, U, with Mom and Pop Music. While her last project, Wallsocket, was a genre-bending concept album exploring the fictional town of Wallsocket, Indiana, and what it means to grow into womanhood, U is a digitalized simplification of Gray’s trademark take on hyperpop.
Instead of the rock-standard instrumentation of her first two recordings, here she favors electronic sounds — an actual guitar is rare on U. Gray’s choice to lean into electronics results in delicious, brain-scratching mixing, but her lyrics are more superficial than her previous projects. Indeed, U is essentially a love album, but behind the shimmering, relentlessly catchy soundscape lies the sensation that despite the more basic themes in her lyrics — Do I really like you? Do you really like me? — Gray turns deadly common moments into something meaningful.
The opener and one of three singles released before March 20, “Tell Me (U Want It)” wastes no time reasserting what Gray is capable of. The track is perhaps the most reminiscent of her earlier music — it’s a virtual labyrinth straight from the opening adlib to the demonic, robotic outro, injecting Redbull into your brain until it nearly explodes. (Don’t worry, somehow you’ll feel better after, though.) It’s the same controlled chaos so prevalent on Wallsocket.
“Music” offers a taste of the different approach Gray takes for the rest of the album. It’s pure, pounding energy, underlaid by a ridiculously fuzzed-out beat — turn your volume down if you’re listening on headphones — taken straight from a Charli XCX song. Though lyrically simple, no two choruses are delivered the same. Halfway through, Gray strips the mix down to its bare bones in a classic underscores breakdown, then adds one layer of synth back at a time for a final, insane chorus.
If the tantalizing soundscapes of the first two tracks weren’t enough, it’s the transition between “Music” and “Hollywood Forever” that dispels all doubts about Gray’s new direction. As “Music” glitters out on top of desperate vocals — “It’s everything to me” — “Hollywood Forever” thunders right in with a heavy, synthless, club-like beat, but hints of melancholic sweetness prevent the track from being so easily categorized.
The brassy, buzzy, chorus-less composition of “The Peace” continues Gray’s twist on a more banal, mainstream-approved hyperpop sound. “Innuendo (I Get U)” shows her comfortability in the off-kilter.
“Lovefield” is the highlight. Perhaps the most disciplined buildup on the record, with exactly one layer added every few bars, its opening xylophonic refrain makes it addicting from the onset. The nuanced romanticism that pervades the album is perfectly demonstrated in “Lovefield,” which encapsulates the sweet, oh-so-exciting vulnerability felt in a new relationship. When the climax comes, the listener is propelled directly along with it. The song is sexy, teasing, and the pinnacle of the near-perfect pop showcased in U.
The penultimate track, “Bodyfeeling,” is another standout. It’s delightfully driven, with autotune counterintuitively accentuating Gray’s vocals at the most lyrical moments. Although this track still has the breakdown that so often defines underscores’ sound, for once it doesn’t overshadow the buildup. Gray breaks it down again at the end, returning to anonymity with just guitar, drums, and sustained keys, and little of the synth which has so far defined this album.
U represents a change in direction for Gray. The production is less tightly wound, with sonic space allowing songs room to breathe. Even so, a number of her trademarks are still present: random sound loops, nearly-disturbing ad-libs, her famed breakdowns and buildups, and the general mix of amorphous noise and lilting melodies. Although Gray’s shallower lyrics and musicality may alienate some original fans, U could be her entrance into the mainstream once and for all.
thecounterpoint.org 