Orca

The songwriter’s self-produced second LP is an introduction to the psyche beneath the quirky bowl cut. But its self-imposed pop formulas and strained symbolism reveal little.

By dropping his guard, Dapperton has reinvented his usual slacker-pop to accommodate his raw emotions

Orca is Gus Dapperton at his most unfiltered and exposed

An artist stepping up musically, while also finding strength in his vulnerability.

With his early singles and 2019 debut album Where Polly People Go to Read, Brooklyn bedroom pop artist Gus Dapperton wrapped warm hooks and synth-dotted arrangements in a carefully stylized persona.

These restless songs flit between lapses of focused meditation and fretful apprehension.