What Now
Sylvan Esso’s sophomore album, What Now, is the sound of a band truly fulfilling the potential and promise of their debut. Everything has evolved - the production is bolder, the vocals are more intense, the melodies are more infectious, and the songs shine that much brighter. However, it is also a record that was made in 2016 - which means it is inherently grappling with the chaos of a country seething inward on itself, the voices of two people nestled in studios around the country who were bemused by what they looked out and saw. It’s an album that is both political and personal, and blurs the line between the two – What Now describes the inevitable low that comes after every high, fulfillment tempered by the knowledge that there is no clearly defined conclusion. What Now asks where we go as a culture when standing at what feels like a precipice. It’s a record about falling in love and learning that it won’t save you; about the oversharing of information and the fine line between self-awareness and narcissism; about meeting one’s own personal successes but feeling the fizzling embers of the afterglow rather than the roar of achievement; about the crushing realization that no progress can ever feel permanent. It is an album that finds its strength in its own duality. But at its core, What Now is an album of the finest songs this band has ever written- produced masterfully, sang fearlessly- to articulate our collective undercurrents of anxiety and joy.
The sophomore album from the electronic pop duo offers a biting, withering take on pop music, full of crisp humor while still finding real moments of tenderness.
Sylvan Esso’s self-titled debut—one of 2014’s best records—felt like a gorgeous click, the sound of two musicians previously focused on vastly different types of music who somehow fit together like sonic puzzle pieces. Nick Sanborn had been making beat-heavy soundscapes as Made Of Oak when he met Amelia Randall Meath,…
The North Carolina duo take a tongue-in-cheek jab at pop music on the deceptively catchy What Now.
As far as difficult second albums go, Sylvan Esso's sophomore effort sounds anything but, as evidenced by the assured single "Kick Jump Twist."
Mostly, What Now feels bigger and brasher than Sylvan Esso's 2014 debut, perhaps to avoid politely slipping into the background quite so easily.
It's been two years since the unlikely duo of wordsmith Amelia Meath and beat maker Nick Sanborn released their acclaimed self-titled debut,...
Undeniably, the respective talents of singer Amelia Meath and producer Nick Sanborn, the team that is Sylvan Esso, were made for each other.
The second instalment since Sylvan Esso’s self-titled debut, it bristles with absolute transition from both Meath and Sanborn. Markedly the weight
What Now treats music as a force that’s cathartic and ephemeral but just as often deceiving.
'What Now' by Sylvan Esso, album review by Owen Maxwell. The full-length comes out on April 28th via Loma Vista Recordings. Sylvan Esso play 5/2 in Berlin.