These choices below are an approximation of what I believe
my most listened to albums of 2023 have been. I feel like it’s been a great
year for music and that I have missed a lot.Once again, I am not ranking these.All of these releases helped bring me great joy throughout this past
difficult year.
There is some kind of scientifically
enhanced surgery going on with how precisely this collection of songs tugs at
my heartstrings. The Sun is in Our Eyes is melodramatic and depicts the romanticism
of past love in a very unreal light. I
know we’d all like to believe that from our past there’s the one perfect match that
got away, but the reality is generally far different. There’s commonly a very good reason they are
no longer a big part of our life. Yet,
for some reason, it’s very powerful to look back into our pasts and overly
romanticize a stolen kiss at summer camp and the delightful innocence of it
all.
Firstly, I need to thank DJ Krissy Vanderwoude for this, because
she played a song by UJU on her
radio show, Drowned in a Sea of Sound.
a couple of weeks ago. I cannot contain
my enthusiasm for this album! This is
one of those: ‘was this made for me?’ sort of albums. Okay, I have to slow down. UJU is from the Philipines and The Sun is in Our Eyes is their second
album. I do not have much prior
experience with Filipino bands, other than going nuts over Julie Plug’s sparkling bright debut Starmaker way back in 1998/99.
UJU do share Julie Plug’s incredible pop sensibilities, but instead of
the overt chiming pop rock of JP, UJU explores a dreamier approach. In fact, the first few songs remind me heavily
of the quiet approach of that first EP by The
Arrogants. There’s a simplicity to
the songs that really helps set a particular reflective mood. Much like the power of Robert Wratten’s songwriting, and more specifically, during the
brief Northern Picture Library period. There’s an ambient atmosphere combined with
nakedly emotional lyrics that pretty much wins me over every time
Early single, “Promises,” borrows the
guitar melody from New Order’s
amazing “Leave Me Alone,” (full overly melodramatic disclosure: pretty much any
evening during my high school years, I was probably listening to “Leave Me
Alone” with an intense desperation wanting everyone to leave me alone, despite
the fact that they did - especially the girls.
Of course, it isn’t until the spectacular sixth song, “Anywhere,
Everywhere,” that a burst of Adorable’s
“Sunshine Smile” type guitars sprawls out like a splash of bright color. The album takes a much more shoegazey turn,
sound-wise, the rest of the way, especially, the epic crashing wave that is the
title track.. There’s a foggy
atmospheric haze to many of these songs that reminds of Singapore’s motifs, or Australia’s Lowtide. However, Leeju
Jung’s vocals are an entirely different game here. She does not blend her voice in like another
instrument like so many shoegaze artists.
She really sings, but she does not fall into that dreadful American Idol-style of oversinging. Instead, songs such as the bouncy, “We Should’ve
Walked, but We Ran,” feel like something sung by Rachel Mayfield’s former band, Delicious
Monster.
There are so many great songs here
that pull those emotional strings! “Summer’s
Gone and so Are You,” I mean C’MON?!!
Then there’s the intensely exciting instrumental “Was it the Sound of a
Car Crash, Broken Glass, or the Moments I’ll Never Get Back?” which paints a
dramatic picture, where words would be too much. The closing “I’ll Be Alright (I’m Still Here)”
is repetitive, but undeniably pretty and reassuring and romantic as hell.
Yesterday morning, after listening to
this album over and over about a half dozen times, and deciding that I wanted
to write about it, I learned that UJU is now taking a “hiatus.” I guess it’s a good thing that there’s
another album to discover!
