Teeming with nostalgia and good vibes, Soren, also known as tsubi club, finally dropped his debut album “trinket” earlier this April. Through infectious digicore beats, tsubi club tells a story of triumph, wherein he, perhaps, tells his own story of making this album. As repeated through the final song, “landslide,” “…if you wanna hit the ball farther, swing the bat harder…” and by all accounts, “trinket” is absolutely a home run.
For those unfamiliar with tsubi club, he’s a Los Angeles-based hyperpop artist who started to gain traction when he toured with popular YouTuber and fellow musician Aries in Australia in 2022 shortly after the release of his first single in October of 2021.
Longtime fans of tsubi club had to wait nearly five years for this album since his first single release, “burbank house.” Expectations were high for the frequent Aries collaborator but excitement slowly died with each passing year without a release. My friend, who had initially put me on to tsubi club a few years back, still hasn’t listened to the album over two weeks after the release.
The only two releases we got from tsubi club since “burbank house” were two singles, “laced up,” an exhilarating digicore song and a forgettable cover of a Pillows song for FLCL Reanimated, a fanmade collaborative project with over 200 artists released in November. Needless to say, “laced up” successfully helped grab my attention again. But then nearly another two years passed. I don’t blame my friend for losing interest.
Finally, on April Fools’ Day, Soren announced his long-awaited album and nobody believed him. He simply thought it would’ve been a funny bit. But thankfully, he wasn’t playing a prank and “trinket” finally arrived.
The album admittedly starts slow. On my first listen, I enjoyed the first few tracks, but I almost thought I was going to be listening to a sample-heavy instrumental project. After the first two tracks, which almost felt like two intro songs, the album kicks it into high gear with what is probably my favorite song on the album, “lil qoo.” This song immediately sets the speed and doesn’t slow down for a second, going in a million different directions. It relentlessly attacks you from all angles. “lil qoo” absolutely blew me away upon first listen.
tsubi club immediately follows one high-energy track with another. “BURNMATERIAL” notably features a sample from a popular Japanese punk jazz band, Midori (ミドリ), that repeats numerous times throughout the song. I loved this song immediately after hearing it, but as other songs on this album have grown on me, “BURNMATERIAL” started to get old after the fifth or so listen. The repetition of the “DESTROY” sample got almost annoying to me after hearing it so many times, which is unfortunate because it’s from such an iconic song, “Yukikosan,” by the aforementioned band, Midori.
After back-to-back high-energy tracks, tsubi club takes it down a few notches with “strawberry☆chop,”a short interlude that almost sounds straight out of an obscure PS2 game. After the brief interlude, then comes “(╥﹏╥),” another digicore banger that discusses a fear of missing out as well as difficulties keeping up with staying consistent with being an artist—a theme that itself repeats throughout the album.
“all-time chump” goes a bit more into his fear of letting his fans down. He talks about wanting to “weasel out” and asks himself whether it would be easier just to give up. After an instrumental track and “bbbackboard,” another digicore banger, comes his most personal track of the album. Unfortunately, it’s also probably the weakest on the album. “Recap :” is exactly what it sounds like, as it’s a recounting of the years since he started really making music his priority and all that comes with it.
All of this leads up to the closing track, “landslide,” which ends up being one of the strongest tracks on the album, where he comes to terms with his fears represented through the album. He’s telling the listener that if you want to do something, do it big. Don’t let fear rule your life. Why be scared of making something people don’t like?
All in all, this is well worth the wait. For an album many years in the making, it’s well-polished, and you can really tell that so much love went into it. For now, tsubi club is only touring in Australia, but I hope he tours North America soon! I will absolutely be there.
‘trinket’ by tsubi club is out now and is overflowing with numerous influences ranging from Porter Robinson to Roy Blair and even some video game music. So if any of that sounds appealing to you, I can’t recommend this album enough.
8/10
