Because the celebration kicks off, blended feelings bubble to the fore. On the springy synth-pop of “Bounce Home,” Abaya cycles by means of nursery rhymes so breezily that you simply virtually miss that she’s left a failing relationship behind within the course of. “Tiramisu” is pure pleasure till the singer begins emphasizing the title’s final two syllables: “miss you.” As its overblown home beat continues pounding, Abaya’s voice turns into ragged and out of step—till, like a baby who’s spun round after consuming an excessive amount of cake, she lastly screams her exasperation out loud. “Pluto shouldn’t be a planet it’s a restaurant” is the file’s ecstatic peak, however because the beat surges, her coronary heart sinks, singing “I’m afraid” because the beat lifts off into the heavens. Fairly than channel disco’s full-bodied catharsis, Abaya chases a stream of consciousness by means of boredom, non-sequiturs, and woozy altered states.
The last word instance of this method comes midway by means of the album. You’d be forgiven for assuming that the titular “Piss Artist” is both Andres Serrano or Andy Warholhowever shock! It’s the singer herself! Turning an account of the time she peed in a jar at a home celebration right into a druggy epic, the artist’s intoxicated rambling is ready to a minimal beat bookended by a sassy, strutting refrain. Few issues on this world are extra tedious than listening to a stoned particular person spill their guts, however the tune is a blast: the product of Abaya’s wonderful comedian timing and cheeky manufacturing touches that underline and heighten her queasy grip on actuality. When she mixes up nouns in a single line (“the ground is on the mattress”) her laughter all of the sudden doubles again and multiplies, chuckling maniacally to herself because the partitions appear to soften round her.
Gleeful absurdity abounds. A number of songs substitute formal songwriting for prolonged phrase video games, however Abaya and Guerin compensate with music that’s twice as articulate. “Spit” is a staggering examine in sibilance, the artist intoning half the dictionary entries for the letter “S” over a swarm of buzzing synthesizers. If Sesame Road ever needs an electro-clash journey by means of the alphabet, Abaya supplies a wonderful audition tape. The mid-tempo boogie “Normalize” nods at Nigerian pop, whereas prattling off signs and syndromes that run from diphtheria (get nicely quickly!) to homophobia (or possibly don’t!). The gradual constructing euphoria of “Dynamite” is constructed across the phrase “I’ve been ready for that” because the duo create a sonic collage of attainable issues she may be ready for: canned dialogue, light marimba pings, found-audio chaos that appears like a bear assault.
In the previous couple of years, silliness has been each a boon and a crutch for pop musicians of all stripes, who rigorously domesticate camp or use inside jokes to batter listeners’ brains. So it feels more and more pressing to suss out who’s flaunting their quirks for viral consideration and who’s striving to carve out a definite lane for themselves and a brand new set of prospects for his or her listeners. Even if you happen to initially assumed Abaya got here by her weirdness in a contrived means, listening to Gelli Haha dispels any doubt about the place she lands on the freak spectrum. Her eccentricities bear themselves fantastically out in her music, and in her fantastic consideration to element, Angel Abaya exhibits you simply how human that strangeness may be.
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