I vaguely remember encountering always, i'll care at some point in 2020, but at the time it just seemed to me like a generic pop song. After I got into this record, I better understood the sound that he had, and I actually grew to like it a lot. His songs have a mix of soft and energetic sounds, and to some extent reminds me of older EDEN.
I've found that on this record, the tracks that were more intense and high energy, I enjoyed a lot more. I guess that's always been a preference of mine, but tracks like somebody loves you, lakehouse and full stop really do manage to hit that emotional spot that calmer songs fail to do. Despite that, there are great tracks on the softer side of the album too.
not ur friend, julia and always, i'll care are some great highlights of his ability to write great soft pop hooks. The instrumentation sounds simple but is effective, and so is the writing. I particularly commend his sound design, there's a lot of minute and subtle sample choices and little melodies throughout the record that give it a lot of texture. His fluency in electronic sound design is very reminiscent of EDEN too, but dialed down a bit.
It's a very calming and vibey album for me, and it's a great breath of fresh air when my ears get tired of heavy music. I don't play it too often but I'd chalk that up more to my current tastes rather than the quality of the record. I do love a lot of what Jeremy Zucker does, and this album is home to quite a number of those.
Rating: 7/10