Review Summary: for the girls in purgatory
Discovering music through algorithm-based social media apps is always a gamble. For every genuinely good-natured artist using the platform to promote their music, there are a thousand ragebait musicians looking for easy engagement or corporate normies coasting off of the success of one or two focus group singles. Julia Wolf is one of those musicians who manages to stand out from the pack with her down-to-earth influences and charismatic voice, and despite her lead single “In My Room” going viral on TikTok (big ups to the Twilight fandom) and racking up over 23 million streams on Spotify alone, Wolf manages to back up the success by knocking out every other song on her sophomore record to an even keel without ever feeling the need to repeat herself.
Metal, hyperpop, hip-hop, emo, pop-punk, indie folk—holy ***. Wolf and producer Scro throw everything against the wall like a splatter painting and somehow wind up with a coherent package that reaches in a lot of different directions without ever sounding like it’s trying too hard to be something it’s not. “Pearl” might cycle between four different types of electronic and metal before landing in a huge, corny deathcore breakdown, but it feels like a genuinely satisfying conclusion to the song due to its brevity and the fact that it’s a trick that only happens once. “Loser” also begins like a classic nu-metal revival track (slow fade-in and everything) before switching gears with the hip-hop production and turning into something much more fun and forward-thinking than just another Deftones riff (yawn). Across the board, Wolf and Scro never go too far down one path to get lost in the sauce of revivalism. Comparisons could be deftly drawn to modern acts ranging from Brakence to Loathe (“FYP” chorus, anyone?) to Poppy and Phoebe Bridgers.
PRESSURE might also share an eerily similar DNA with the manic “playlistification” approach of Bring Me The Horizon’s
POST HUMAN: Nex Gen, but at only 30 minutes long,
PRESSURE edges out the competition by providing a much more concentrated shotgun blast without any bloat.
Mind you, a lot of this ADHD brain-scrambling only works so well because of how outstanding and consistent Wolf’s vocal performance is. Wolf perfectly balances the emotional angst of a 2000s Amy Lee with a breathy type of grace typically only flexed by indie singers. Her voice really becomes unbound in the back half of the record, where the production drifts away from the hyper-pop-metal mash-up and settles into more relaxed pop rock and indie territory. “Girls” and “Jennifer’s Body” both see Wolf tackling insecurities in an almost embarrassingly real “Girl, so confusing” type of way that I find refreshingly raw, but the last three songs really thrust Wolf’s voice into the spotlight for an unbeatable apex. “In My Room” deserves all the love it gets for how it so effortlessly captures an intoxicating obsession with a nostalgic mix of early Evanescence and Paramore, and the closing duo of “Sunshine State” and “You’ve Lost A Lot of Blood” deserve equal praise for their homely and sweet tenderness.
Despite the quality of Wolf’s voice reaching its full potential in the back half of the record, I can’t actually say that I like one half more than the other. Wolf’s voice makes for such a consistently enjoyable experience across the entire plethora of genres and all of Scro’s wild production techniques. The front half is just more flashy and hyperstimulating, and the back half is more contemplative and serene. Put it all together, and
PRESSURE is an amalgamation of everything a dopamine-deficient adult needs to get through the 9-5 without snapping. It creates such an intense blender effect that I sense a quick burn-out from repeat listens, but I’m just going to enjoy the high while it lasts.
s
