Tired of the spooky season festivities and looking for some different kind of thrills? Friday Pilots Club‘s first independent EP is out and it’s an interstellar, out-of-your-mind experience.
I LOVE YOU, ROBOT SUPERSTAR presents itself as the best work of the band yet- expanding from the band’s signature alternative rock sound, each track experiments with various styles of production and a different groove all while keeping vulnerability and originality in mind. If the lead single “Hot Mess” feels like a game of Russian roulette, the newest single along with the EP release, “Poison or Patience,” reads like an autobiography of a calculated stumbling drunk. Featuring pop powerhouse OSTON, “Poison or Patience” opens with a creeping intro then launches into a beat that feels like confident strides. A true anthem for starving artists alike, the track builds on the moral debate between choosing poison or patience in order to stay sane.
It’s hard to say whether I LOVE YOU, ROBOT SUPERSTAR ever crawls out of this theme of self-loathing; but melodically speaking, the EP sounds optimistic and encouraging, if anything- pondering at the very least. The slower moment of the project comes after the first two tracks. “Never Say No” and “Better With” flirt with a borderline hyperpop production, with steadier tempo and a whole lot of distortion effects. Both heart-wrenching in entirely different ways, “Never Say No” rings sounds of 2010s rock that reminds of Radiohead and Muse, while “Better With” contains frenzy moments that are much more grungy and dangerous.
As the EP spirals on, “Bury Me” feels like yet another highlight on the project. Drew Polovick‘s bass line provides no space for escapes, along with a groove that is undeniably all up in your face, “Bury Me” feels suffocating in the best way possible. The grand finale, “IDWBS” feels like a subtle nod to the EP’s opening track, with a similar aggressive attitude and a stronger than ever demand: “Everything rots in the sun/ Got a feeling I don’t wanna be someone,” lead singer Caleb Hiltunen sings.
Besides the few lyrical hints about the hopeless search of originality on the internet, the inescapable need to please others and the negligence of self as a result, there’s little explanation to the EP’s title. Nevertheless, we can make an educated guess that Friday Pilots Club sets out to create a satirical masterpiece. A snarky, yet sophisticated alt-rock analysis on today’s internet climate and the toxic culture that dominates over creativity and authenticity, Friday Pilots Club’s I LOVE YOU, ROBOT SUPERSTAR may just be one of the most ambitious EPs of the year.
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