I LOVE THICK CHORDS I LOVE THICK CHORDS

I’m a big proponent of the idea that like it or not, hyperpop’s existence had huge implications on sound design as a whole with it’s effects spanning way farther than most people would expect. I’m such a large believer in this idea that should you continue to read AuraLink articles you’ll get really sick of me talking about it, but this isn’t an article about the spread of hyperpop’s sound palette, as aldrch’s taste is in some ways the trend setting sounds right from the source.

Being the third single of an ongoing project rollout taste could be boiled down to a handful of musical buzzwords like “trap”, “dance music”, or the notoriously vague “hyperpop”, but I think to focus on arbitrary labels is bordering on insulting when this song’s got such a thick ass synth chord to envelop your entire being with. I hadn’t expected it either as the song begins with a relatively calm and clean synth and vocal combo laying our premise of romantic disconnect, but at 28 seconds you find yourself surrounded by a thick wall of FM synthesis and bass (which is nerdy music production words for “this shit big and textured”). Building off that my favourite thing about this song is how it takes it’s choices and plays with them. While still feeling cohesive the song can bounce between trap influenced distorted basses to old school dance/club 4 on the floor beats, even stretching it’s musical eclecticism to future bass derived synth stutter cuts. The fluidity in the songs’ genre transitions tied in with the pleasantly clear vocal mix makes it increasingly special as we pass through it’s many influences over the course of it two and half minute runtime. It’s a mural of a lot of the best music trend of our lifetime wrapped up into a loud, abrasive (in a cool and fun way), potentially divisive, but frankly amazing package. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but it is like the song equivalent of a nice set of BBS LMs.

Niche reference aside, this track is sick. It’s the kind of track that I love and know that if I showed my friends would either evoke a “holy shit” or “what is this”, which is exactly the sweet spot anything worth its weight in creativity or innovation should be in. So much music is sterile and the same now and things that push limits at times scare people off, but the sheer number of times I’ve watched someone come back around after a while is astonishing. To sum it up nicely, aldrch killed it, genres are fake, and please please please we need more thick chords. Thank you for your time.