Attempting to suit all of Daryl Johns’ influences into one field is a frightening process. Among the many many inspirations for his self-titled debut album, he’s cited “Jessie’s Woman” and “Baba O’Riley”; emo and Hüsker Dü; Quick Occasions at Ridgemont Excessive; the ’60s, ’80s, and the hair, particularly, of the ’70s; burgers, shakes, and fries; and Mickey Mouse. To attempt to make sense of all of it is to be a hapless Tony Montana standing earlier than the mountain of blow on his desk, muttering, “We gotta get organized right here.” Good luck with all that.
Daryl Johns started a decade in the past as a collection of unreleased songs when Johns, a classically educated upright bass participant and jazz prodigy, obtained sick of taking part in requirements and began noodling round with totally different genres, “quilting pop melodies collectively in a maximalist means,” as he places it. And after signing with pal and well-known chiller Mac DeMarco’s label, Johns started experimenting along with his personal offbeat takes on indie rock. However it might be remiss to mistake the sum for its elements; Daryl Johns isn’t any pastiche, as a substitute creating its personal sprawling universe of loosey-goosey, feel-good jaunts. Portray trendy landscapes in retro strokes, the album’s sound is uniquely recent but acquainted in one million totally different instructions.
Lead single “I’m So Severe” is probably the most synth-pop-inspired tune on the album. Within the neon-drenched music video, Johns leans full-tilt into MTV-style Americana, shredding in entrance of a Mel’s Drive-In (one other inspiration he’s named: “diner rock”). Whereas intelligent and positively a banger, “I’m So Severe” can also be the album’s most literal tune, preferring to rehash its influences slightly than delve into one thing stranger. Nonetheless, the winkingly self-referential lyrics within the bridge appear to function a sweeping introduction to the entire album: “Hit the EQ,” he yelps by way of the fourth wall. “Now journey the quantity.”
By the remainder of the album, we be taught that eclecticism is Johns’ chief power. In “Barbecue within the Solar” and “Associates Without end,” he melds ’80s textures with ’60s pop kinds, reverbing the hell out of his layered, DIY-Ronettes vocals. His fragmented lyrics evoke bits and items of roller-rink nostalgia—by no means outlining a transparent scene, however creating vivid, blurry flashes of the fleeting moments earlier than the lights come up. No marvel he’s described the album’s sound as “TV jingle reminiscences.”
