Review Summary: Where've you gone, my little brain?
I'll happily admit that I don't particularly consider myself to be a fan of the emo-rap subgenre that plagued much of Soundcloud's catalogue in the late 2010's, that also seemingly wowed many millennials en masse – causing the genre to dominate the billboards and break all manner of streaming records. The often
unbearably corny aesthetics that saw every other artist employ the "lil"-moniker while donning face tattoos and penning the edgiest song and album titles imaginable. It was a piece of musical history fraught with tiresome clichés. That's not to say there weren't merit to these artists' success or that they weren't talented (most of them were) but it was hard to shake the feeling that a vast majority of music that spawned out of this era came off of a conveyor belt: often lavishly produced to a tee and ripe with the most basic cookie-cutter hooks; lyrics about self-harm, depression, opium addictions – the novelty wore thin very fast.
Discovering nothing,nowhere. aka Joe Mulherin back in early 2019 was a revelation. The song "Dread" in particular chilled me to the bone: an ominous beat complementing Joe's storytelling about breaking down in his room following a tour cancellation the previous year due to severe anxiety. His nostalgic flow and mannerisms were a much-needed breath of fresh air amidst the bloated auto-tuned singing utilized by many of his peers in the genre. Digging deeper into his sophomore effort
Ruiner made me realize that this was the blend of emo and hip-hop that truly resonated with me, held together competently by his own production and guitar playing. The subsequent
Trauma Factory and last year's
Void Eternal are jarring detours by comparison – both albums employ more post-hardcore trappings and pop-choruses, but Joe's DNA and vision are very evident throughout. He's clearly not content with sticking with the same formula on every release and reverting back to being an independent artist has finally given him the free reigns to produce and release music however he sees fit.
His most recent outing,
Dark Magic is – to put it bluntly – his most expansive work yet. Seemingly stealth dropped out of the blue and spanning 18 tracks that chronicles ten year's worth of nothing,nowhere. music, it's the most unapologetically earnest batch of songs he's ever cooked up and he's got the songwriting chops to show for it. With few songs even clearing the two-and-a-half-minute mark,
Dark Magic breezes by effortlessly. Just about every track features his typical brand of sizzling trap hi-hats and 808's, both complemented by the now tried and true, moody guitar plucking typical for the genre. "Pity Party", "Reaper Gang" and "WTF" are full-on emo club bangers boasting Joe's strongest vocal hooks to date. "No Emotion" features a towering chorus and harkens back to the strongest cuts on
Reaper and
Ruiner. "Haunted Home", "XXX" and "Beige" are clearly an extension of his post-hardcore endeavor pursued on
Void Eternal, but they feel awkwardly slotted in on the tail end of the track listing and wind up being the dark horses on a record clearly meant to appeal to those who've longed for his return to full-blown, emo-tinged hip-hop. Penultimate "Drain Touch" and closer "lovelylittlehell" are two of the finest tracks Joe has ever written and produced – swirling synthesizers and restrained vocal melodies collide for a soundscape that feels like Joe has reached his final form and fully mastered his artistry.
Dark Magic might not be a groundbreaking offering, but it feels like the project Joe truly wanted to make all along, with an admirable amount of care and attention being funneled to virtually every single track. Joe has also taken to social media to promise no less than 3 additional mixtapes dropping later this year and with that, comes the warranted concern of fatigue settling in, but
Dark Magic is none-the-less a great mission statement for Joe's work ethic moving forward as an independent artist.
