How To Work A Room

this is a decent debut album from Superet. i'd never heard of these guys until someone recommended me this album on twitter, and there's essentially nothing here on AOTY, so i had no idea what to expect. what i got, though, was some pleasant synth/psychedelic pop that's pretty enjoyable to listen to.

How to Work a Room is composed of 10 tracks and 4 little interlude/skits that are like, telling a robot how to be sociable and talk to people? idk it's kinda disconnected from the rest of the tracks, but the skits are so short it doesnt really make an impact on the actual music. and the music here is pretty decent. the first song, Bone Bag, has a nice chugging electronic beat with these twinkling synths adding texture, and the way the chorus pops is pretty fantastic. there's a flood of guitars and bass, the mix is just super full of pretty sound. the next track, Farrington Pond, reminds me of Paramore's last album After Laughter with the driving bassline and pop-rock guitar rhythms, but wrapped in a layer of synths buzzing and beeping all around each instrument. the track Some Bright Lights is a really interesting one - the lyrics seem to be about being born? it's kind of a weird thing to have smack in the middle of your album, and i feel the track really struggles to get started. the first half is pretty empty, just synths and the singer's voice, and when the song does break into something more dense it's not the most fulfilling. i think the track was a bit too ambitious and wasn't executed as well as i wouldve liked.

the track YDS2M has this weird annoying synth arpeggio that starts the track and kinda ruins it, which is a shame because i love the acoustic guitar rhythm that permeates the rest of the track. it totally gives me early Gorillaz vibes, like Re-Hash or New Genius. the previous track, A Gash on the Cheek, is definitely a highlight here though. it has this growling synth bassline that makes the track super digital and futuristic, but these pretty piano chords keep it feeling modern. and i love on the chorus how it starts building up with the pianos and guitars, before the somewhat distorted guitars start to overtake it. it's a pretty great track.

if there was one big issue with How To Work a Room, it'd be sonic diversity. while most of these tracks are at the least enjoyable, it's kinda hard to differentiate them from each other. songs sound similar enough so that they can kinda blend together sometimes and it can kinda fade into the background of your focus. no song really sticks out as sounding super unique or different - Superet has a sound and they're sticking to it.

How To Work a Room is a decent debut album that shows a lot of room for improvement. they have a good sound, and good songwriting, but they just need to make a bigger and more compelling statement imo. still, if you missed this one, you might want to check it out. it's pretty fun

FAVORITE - Bone Bag, A Gash on the Cheek, Farrington Pond, Blue Age
LEAST FAVORITE - Shapeless Place

6/100 - check out my progress here: https://www.albumoftheyear.org/user/knewnie/list/4794/knewnies-queue/