The Weakling Gazette

In one sentence, this album just feels fuckin good man. The lowpass filter that gives all of the beats that lo-fi feel, the optimistic lyrical tone and message, the Earl’s signature laid back tone, it’s like listening to a sunrise.

You really love to see Earl doing well especially after some of his previous projects where he’s lamenting his position and really painting some vivid pictures of depression and anxiety. In the wider context of his discography this album just feels like a musical representation of the cliche “it gets better”.

This album dropped at a time for me where I’m feeling a sense of creative fulfillment I haven’t felt in a few years too so that makes it hit that much harder.

The consensus online seems to be that Tourmaline is the best song on the album and while I do think its one of his best ever, Exhaust is far and beyond the standout of the album. I personally am huge on an album having a good closer. There’s a few albums I can think of that I would rate higher if the artist chose a different song as the closing track and Exhaust is the perfect example for me of encapsulating the theme and sound of an album. It’s also got my favorite bars of the album:

“At Marathon, standing on the couches, singing loud
Lining silver on the nimbus cloud, I get it now”

I listened to this album first thing in the morning the day it came out and walked into the rest of my day legitimately wanting to spread the joy I was feeling. Please listen to this one and try to soak up some of that positivity it’s giving out.