Connecticut emo band Anxious throw their whole bodies into their songs, even when they opt for more melodic hooks. On their sophomore album, Bambi, they return not knock-kneed and nervous, but confident and intentional, bridging their post-hardcore, emo, and pop-punk influences. Opener “Never Said” sets the stage with delicate guitar picking and singer Grady Allen’s gentle vocals before he shifts into a louder holler for the chorus and doesn’t turn back. Be it “Counting Sheep” or the speedier “Head & Spine,” Anxious go bigger and bolder than on their 2022 debut, Little Green House, with their sights set far ahead.
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Eem Triplin: Melody of a Memory [RCA]
“You are a special gift, and you are taking the gift that God has given you and you are using that gift,” says a motherly voice to open Melody of a Memory, Eem Triplin’s debut album. To prove his own glow-up, the rapper and singer pushes his bedroom beats into a bigger, more exploratory sound across the entire record, as influenced by role models Pharrell Williams and Tyler, the Creator. Executive-produced by Triplin and DJ Dahi, Melody of a Memory uses just over half an hour—and one Ty Dolla $ign feature, on “Out Miami”—to infuse the artist’s creative ideas with his onstage energy.
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