Gus Dapperton
Orca
Release Date: Sep 18, 2020
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Rock, Lo-Fi, Indie Pop
Record label: AWAL
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Album Review: Orca by Gus Dapperton
Fairly Good, Based on 3 Critics
Based on rating 7/10
Taking listeners in a new direction on his second full-length outing, Orca sees Gus Dapperton tackle strong themes of mental health struggles and finding acceptance in his most transparent and honest piece of work yet. Opening with "Bottle Opener", the boppy, upbeat and instantly infectious melody is strongly reminiscent of Dapperton's debut album Where Polly People Go to Read with the chorus subtly soaked in backing layered vocals. The lyrics, however, are what give this album an instant edge to Dapperton's previous works: "you never let them get to you / I always let them get to me / I don't know if I'll last until tomorrow / it's such an arduous test to always bottle it up.
Based on rating 3.5/5
After arriving with last year's debut 'Where Polly People Go To Read', NYC's Gus Dapperton established himself as a leading force of quirky upbeat alt-pop. Full of weird and wonderful synth-heavy indie-pop sizzlers, follow-up 'Orca' finds Gus stepping into a whole different realm. It was penned during a time of imabalance, brought on by the exhilarating highs and lows of touring life and all the 'extra-curricular' opportunities it brings up.
Based on rating 5.3/10
Gus Dapperton: e-boy archetype, Porches lookalike, bedroom pop artist, post-Tumblr aesthete, TikTok native. He is a mood board, Gen Z culture personified. Over the past few years, the Brooklyn-based 23-year-old and his class of fellow online alterna-pop artists with colorful hair have developed an aesthetic: light, hazy synth tunes that blur into fans' lives and Spotify algorithms.
'Orca'
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