brakence. Photo courtesy Columbia Records.
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Restlessness, angst, and an insatiable curiosity for splicing genres were the unifying characteristics of the young artists who made hyperpop, the extremely online subgenre that has mostly sublimated into the cultural ether. brakence, a 20-something from Ohio, flitted around its margins when he first emerged: his 2018 project hypnagogia reflected an immersion in the beats of Soulection and Kaytranada, while punk2 (his major label debut with Columbia) blended IDM, SoundCloud rap, and the yearning falsetto of Justin Vernon. His third album hypochrondiac, released this month, is the strongest indication yet that brakence isn't bent on distancing himself from his origins, and his development as a musician is all the stronger for it.
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That's why "5g" from hypochrondiac is such a standout: it can make you both nostalgic for those heady hyperpop days and excited for what's to come. A knockout blow is landed in the opening seconds, with a pitched-up brakence sounding manic over midwest emo guitars: "Baby, don't be my crutch when this shit get gory / Got that radioactive touch, I'm from purgatory, she heard the story." If this song had lungs, they would be atrophied from anxiety: Aphex Twin-meets-drill drums thud as brakence apocalyptically bemoans the doomscroll, climate disaster, and his own interpersonal shortcomings, making each subject intertwined in true protagonist fashion. It's overloaded and overwhelmed but never overwhelming, a pop song with the texture of a sea urchin that begs to be picked up again and again.
