Recommended Tracks: “dance in my room”, “cali”, “glow’d up”
Artists You May Like: Claire Rosinkranz, Lorde, King Princess
As you grow up, you find ways to preserve all of the moments and experiences you go through. You might keep silly mementos in a shoebox or scribble your wildest dreams in a diary. You might put old Polaroids in a scrapbook or hold onto tattered pieces of clothing. There are so many memories to cherish, and for electropop artist Gwyn Love, the best way to cherish them is to preserve them in a song. After introducing us to some of these memories on their ♡ x + EP earlier this year, Gwyn continues to tell us all that they have gone through and learned from on their debut album, dimr.
Gwyn is a gifted storyteller and is able to convey shared feelings of love, loss, and desire from song to song. On the opening track “dance in my room,” for instance, Gwyn describes the notion of getting to know someone a little better in a place far away from noises and distractions. There is also the percussive “pretty shitty,” where Gwyn calls someone out for all of the years of insults and put-downs. With specific lyrics such as, “I look better in pictures than I do in real life” and “Clothes are too small, I don’t fit in, no one likes me / But, I like me,” we are better able to understand where Gwyn is coming from, taking us on this journey with them.
To better set the mood, Gwyn matches the character of each track with a particular genre or style. For instance, we get catchy melodies and upbeat vocals on “cali,” where Gwyn fantasizes about living a better life in “The Golden State.” We also get a hazy hip-hop beat on “outta my head,” where the synth floats over everything we hear, as if portraying the cloudiness that Gwyn so describes on the track. Even on the sassy “glow’d up,” where Gwyn sings about exes from their past hitting them up now that they have had a “glow up,” we get an innocent, playful piano riff that harnesses the lighthearted nature of the story.
Whether it is the music or the lyrics, there is a nostalgic presence throughout the album that brings you back to simpler times. We hear about the downfalls of young love on “tv,” where Gwyn sings, “Wish he’d snap out of it, but he just wants to watch TV,” in a half-serious, half-joking kind of way. While it is an issue, it is not the worst problem to have, and we can definitely relate to those moments when someone we want to spend time with refuses to acknowledge our existence. On the closing track “either way,” Gwyn conveys the idea of accepting whatever will be in life, singing, “Nothing lasts forever / That’s what they tell me.” They are okay with the choices they make, summing up the heart of the album.
Overall, dimr is a perfect coming-of-age album for those in need of a partner to dance with or a shoulder to cry on. Gwyn touches on the fleeting moments that shaped them, while also giving advice to those going through similar situations. Additionally, the oddly specific details they give us on dimr are enough to bring empathy to listeners who are just wanting to feel less alone. It is an album that falls in the “young without being too young” realm, nicely setting Gwyn up for a wide array of possibilities for the follow-up album.
You can listen to dimr on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.
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