Hyperpop singer-songwriter-producer extraordinaire underscores has fully devoted herself to pop music on her latest album. The result? Some of the most addictive music released in recent memory. underscores is the solo project of 26-year-old musician April Harper Grey, under which she has consistently been putting out music since 2017, including three albums.
Her 2021 debut fishmonger was released amidst the height of the hyperpop movement’s popularity and beautifully combined glitchy electronic production with slick guitar riffs. 2023’s Wallsocket – a concept album with incredible depth – saw Grey dive further into guitar-focused production and emotional lyricism. Her most recent offering, U, sees underscores return to the production-centric electro pop that defined earlier stages of her career.
The anthemic opener ‘Tell Me (U Want It)’ sets the tone for the rest of the album. The track opens with a surprised sounding underscores exclaiming, ‘It’s You?!’ This line will go on to her producer tag for the rest of the album – something she has been doing since fishmonger to indicate new eras in her music. An uptempo 12/8 shuffle drum section and a rubbery, convulsing bassline create a song so alive with movement that one can’t help but feel the urge to get up and dance. The rest of the album remains just as dynamic, with tracks like ‘Hollywood Forever’ venturing even further into dance-pop territory, and songs like ‘The Peace’ and ‘Do It’ highlighting what a truly phenomenal producer Grey is.
In many ways this is underscores’ most personal album to date. Grey’s songwriting has touched on deep and personal themes, but always in a way that felt somewhat obscured by said album’s overarching lore or story arc. U ditches the complex fictional storylines to tell a real, raw account of the ups and downs of a failed relationship through the lens of nine brilliantly crafted pop songs.
With a tracklist of nine songs and a runtime of 34 minutes, U is truly a focused and cohesive pop record with immense replay value. This hyper-focused tracklist might play to the record’s detriment in some capacities, as it does not necessarily feel like it explores as much sonic variety as an album like Wallsocket, which had a tracklist of 12 songs. As both underscores’ previous albums received accompanying deluxe editions within a year of their release, it might not be too much of a stretch to assume that U might receive similar treatment.
Stream U:
