Maybe we should have waited until June 9 to do this…
[Video]
[5.00]
Iain Mew: The Sound of 2020 list is a particularly aesthetically consistent one, but most of its contenders have something to stand out. Joesef represents the median of the sound but has nothing else to offer. “Play Me Something Nice” is empty yet still too fussy to even slip into the background, as the acoustic backing doesn’t settle and, as a means of infusing emotion, he sings “hedging my bets” as “hitching my bits.”
[3]
Kylo Nocom: Shares what critics loved in Rhye: light harmonies, lounge-y arrangements, sensual ambiguity. Not particularly original — if Rex Orange County couldn’t be the sound of 2018, he definitely shouldn’t be the sound of 2020 — but Joesef possesses an extraordinary warmth that his VHS-addled contemporaries would die for.
[7]
Thomas Inskeep: Acoustic guitar plus spacey, low-key production, oversharingly confessional lyrics, and a voice like little else, and I’m not mad. He sounds truly striking.
[7]
Crystal Leww: Perfect to soundtrack the next Netflix teen romance starring Archie from Riverdale.
[3]
Brad Shoup: I could not stop hearing the introductory guitar figure for Metallica’s “One”. Which is a distressing sensation to carry through a pattery deep-night R&B track! Everything from the subliminal whistling to the surf-level guitar reverb is mic’d exquisitely. But it’s in service of a laziness that stretches from pipes to page. This is the second song this week to reference gambling, and, textually, the messier of the two: Joesef’s the bettor and bookie and hired goon all in one. He says he’s tired of lying to himself, but he just sounds tired: watching a football match on mute, just keeping his eye on the score.
[5]
Joshua Lu: Part of me understands the Amy Winehouse comparisons — I can hear it in Joesef’s androgynous, accented voice, which undulates along the jazzy chords of “Play Me Something Nice” just like Amy could. But the rest of me is mystified — Amy commanded her tracks, while Joesef fades into the backdrop much too readily.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: Wan softboy singing wrecking potentially vibrant songs: Mac DeMarco/Rex Orange County edition (no, that isn’t redundant) (OK, maybe a little redundant).
[5]
Nortey Dowuona: More dull singing with muted guitars, flat drums and smushed and smeared bass, but thankfully, the songwriting is nice. The hook of “But I know that it’s over, but do you want to come over” feels both desperate and confident, knowing that they shouldn’t invite this person back into their lives, but that they can anyway. Once he stops ripping off Rex Orange County, we could have something here.
[6]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: Looking at the YouTube comments, it seems like “Play Me Something Nice” was brought to many people’s attention through YouTube ads. It couldn’t have found a better home: it’s charming enough to catch the ear, and vaporous enough that the ease with which it comes and goes is almost alluring.
[5]