Change the Record: Underscores – “U”

I’m going to skip the fancy intro and get straight to the point here. This album is my album of the year, period. This article was originally slated to be a different review, but this album captivated me so much that I skipped ahead to review it now and tell readers how good it is.

Underscores is the music project of April Harper Grey, a singer-songwriter and producer who has worked independently since 2018. Grey is a modern transgender artist making significant waves in the independent music scene, alongside artists such as Jane Remover and Frost Children, pioneering new waves of electronic-based indie music. Transgender people have been leading the indie music scene in the 2020s, and Underscores is a prime example.

From her debut album “Fishmonger,” which was promising and intriguing, though it still had more to prove, to her sophomore album “Wallsocket,” released in 2023, Grey created one of the most fascinating and well-constructed albums of the year. It blended hard-hitting rave and indietronica with slower singer-songwriter cuts, creating a one-of-a-kind experience.

Despite the success and acclaim of “Wallsocket,” Grey sought a new direction with her latest album, “U,” moving away from indie rock and electroclash toward a more pop-ready record that incorporates electropop and dance-pop, blending them with electronic influences such as dubstep and future bass.

The album was introduced with three singles, beginning with the lead single “Music,” which is driven by a grinding, gritty bassy synth, contrasted with Grey’s smooth vocals, lighter synth melodies during the bridge, and sweeping electronic hits in the chorus. This was followed by the second single, the club jam “Do It,” featuring deep guitar strums and heavy bass lines, alongside some of Grey’s most confident vocal delivery. It reminds me wonderfully of some of the best tracks by Britney Spears and Rina Sawayama. The final single is also the album opener, “Tell Me (U Want It),” a smooth dubstep-inspired track featuring one of the album’s strongest drops. The revving synths and Grey’s commanding vocals create a pleasant and undeniably ear-catching sound.

The album is great at building up and releasing, even when it subverts it, like on “Hollywood Forever,” which takes the blinking futuristic synths and builds them into a more skeletal, thumping drumbeat during the drop, before rebuilding itself again at the end, like a rollercoaster of sound.

The album as a whole radiates confidence, not only from the powerful tone of Grey’s voice and the bass-heavy, thumping production, but also from lyrics that are among Grey’s most personal and openly sexual. This is best expressed on “Innuendo (I Get U),” with its repeating hooks, driving percussion, and head-knocking synth hits. This is evident even in slower moments such as “The Peace,” with repeating vocal samples recalling a prime-era Imogen Heap track, or “Lovefield,” which has the album’s quietest, starkest beat, creating a calmer interlude between the album’s two biggest bangers, “Innuendo (I Get U)” and “Do It.”

It is not a very long album, with only nine tracks and a 34-minute runtime, but it makes the most of every minute, filling it with well-done production, likely owing to Grey’s familiarity with the genre, strong vocals, and some of the stickiest hooks of the year. It also makes every track memorable. It fits the definition of “All killer, no filler.”

The last two tracks to be mentioned are the closing songs, beginning with “Bodyfeeling,” which is bright and pulsing with a self-assured energy. Finally, the album ends with the guitar-led “Wish U Well,” where the decadent guitar lines are matched with bouncing synths, while claps and percussion provide a strong sense of rhythm, further highlighting Grey’s vocal ability.

If the fact that this review has been basically humorless, and mostly just me gushing like a K-pop stan, hasn’t made it clear, I really liked this album. It does not reinvent pop conventions, but as I’ll always say, if a person can’t do something new, at least do it right, and this album does that well. It makes me excited to see where Grey goes next with her sound, and confident that she could basically pull off whatever she wanted. I wish Grey well, and “Wish U Well” to the readers; thanks for reading.