GutterPutter

Context

Seth Nyquist, over the past seven years, has been making some waves for his peculiar brand of indie pop. His focus on introspection over past traumas, love, and difficulties left him with a decent following over several platforms such as YouTube or Spotify. Its psychedelic influences, R&B-like swagger in his vocal performance, and spacious production makes him highly anticipated with his first full-length play. For all the hype there is around this debut, the final product might come off as a tad bit short on what could be praised about his work – and how good of an introduction it would be to new listeners.

Review

This is going to be one of the more snarkier reviews that I have done, but I ultimately feel that the album does show Nyquist’s talents pretty decently at the cost of what makes him a strong standout to so many. As soon as you set foot into ‘Seasons Change’, the quick drum beat and ghastly use of reverbs and echoes feel like it masks the unremarkable lyricism which tackles restarting love. Compare that to the ignorance-is-bliss breakthrough ‘Heaven’s Only Wishful’ back in 2018 which contains a slightly more diverse set of percussions and its lyrics aren’t no slouch. ‘Seasons Change’’s best lines are its chorus with the hundrum “As the river/ Flows on constantly/ Time will never wait/ As seasons change”. Comparatively, ‘Heaven’s Only Wishful” paints the image of a similarly failing relationship through pristine imagery and metaphors. “With the lights out, it’s less dangerous/ You could kiss the lips of fate/ The less we know the less it drains us” instantly hooks you into the gamble of secrecy to maintain the status quo.

This isn’t just one problem. Semblance’s lyrical contents are rife with relatively dull lines on breakups and its instrumentals are filled with a certain lack of charisma. ‘Chasing Ghosts’ personally feels like a d-side to Gorillaz’s more beloved ‘Feels Good Inc.’ without the rap verses and a great segmentation in the song structure. Even the singing, as great as it is, doesn’t help much to distract much from the overall lack of dynamic feeling. ‘Crawl’, ‘Don’t Cry’, and ‘Days End’ fall apart as ballads for how its attempted melodrama is hampered by how its choruses can come off as repetitive. Yes, there are parts where even the catchiest, most memorable part of the song is what I find to be the most bothersome and annoying. The ambience in ‘Quiet Heart’ sees its occasional disruption from the alien piano which doesn’t unsettle or even leave a certain wonder as much as it does come off as a tad bit kitschy. Once you feel that there’s not much about it that it could impress, you could welcome the appropriate title of ‘Here It Goes Again’ with its uninspired lyrics and little energy in the vocal performance.

There are some good parts that could be found such as the charming guitar in ‘Lifeless’ and ‘Better at Letting Go’ or the multitracked vocals in ‘Dawn’. The way in which the album is produced is remarkable for its care taken into making the sophisticated psychedelia shine through to an extent. Nyquist’s vocal performance in general swings through nicely with his ability to hit the falsetto while subtly making small adjustments in his delivery to convey a certain emotion. Nevertheless, Semblance offers little in the way to catch you by the tail and lead you through on what makes MorMor not just talented, but a fine artist in his work. We have enough conventionally brilliant singers already for pop – what about the one who will twist its formula inch by inch? We can see these shining moments in his EPs, but they’re not something that would garner attention often. Nyquist is definitely a professional already in his project. What tricks can he pull up his sleeve to make his next record go far and beyond what many would expect?

In a nutshell, Nyquist appears to have fallen into the same hole as many pop stars like Taylor Swift had seemingly done. It feels like he had compromised his creativity for a bit of accessibility without embracing what makes him an instant cult favourite in the preceding years. As a result, his debut is likely going to be checked out by a relatively broad range of indie pop fans who are into conventional structure and slightly unconventional sound palettes. I doubt, however, that it will lead to a complete clamour for his skills and based on a couple of reactions, even his fans feel that it’s not as exciting as his EPs. Let’s hope that he picks up what makes him special and see where he moves on from there.