The Simps — Siblings — Album Review
Alternative | Indie | Rock | Electronic
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
It was in the summer of 2020 that I discovered the vintage indie sound of Filipino singer-songwriter Idris Vicuña; more popularly known as Eyedress. This was through their album Let’s Skip To The Wedding, which was an album that had me hooked on Eyedress’ vibrant and angsty sound.
However, it turns out that Vicuña had something else up his sleeve, as shown by the single release of “On Fye”, which arrived at the very end of the same year. This track would not be released under the typical Eyedress name, however. Instead, it would tease an upcoming collaboration between himself, and LA-based artist Zzzahara. This collaboration would be donned with the name of The Simps.
Not much else was shared about The Simps in 2021, and the focus instead turned back to Eyedress, with the release of the 2021 album Mulholland Drive. It wouldn’t be until 2022, when we finally receive the release of The Simps’ debut album.
Titled Siblings, this album didn’t seem to be released on your typical new music friday. And as a result, I almost missed out on it. Needless to say, however, I was highly excited to listen to this album, with high hopes that it would offer a good mixture of similarities and differences stylistically, in comparison to Eyedress’ solo work.
I did also manage to listen to the four teaser tracks that the two had released shortly prior to the album (the aforementioned “On Fye” included). At that stage, I couldn’t quite make a strong opinion either way, as to whether the album would distance itself enough to Eyedress’ solo work to really stand out as its own record. But with the full album finally here, I now have more of an idea as to what kind of stylistic mix both Eyedress and Zzzahara.
In a nutshell, the style of Siblings does carry the enjoyable qualities of albums like Let’s Skip To The Wedding, but with a heavier lean towards more electronic elements. As a result, Siblings winds up being an album that carries warm vibes in spade-loads.
That being said though, I wish that this album was released at a time which complimented the style better. There’s no doubt in saying that Siblings would have made for an amazing summer listen. I feel that any haziness I have left about how I actually feel about the album would come a little later into the year.
Nevertheless, Siblings in undoubtedly a very solid record, with the majority of its tracks hitting the right spot. Of course, the kind of rough-around-the-edges feel that the album carries does contribute to this, and gives the overall album a lot of charm in the process. However, the tracks that I didn’t wind up keeping felt like cases of where this roughness went a little too overboard, and felt like they could’ve at least gone through a few more takes.
But in a musical time period where more and more artists are set on making as much of a polished record as they can, an album like Siblings, as well as The Simps as a collaborative band, truly stand out from the pack.
Favourite Tracks: Everyone’s a Critic | Berry Bowl Evil Boss Level | Cinderella’s Daughter
Least Favourite Track: 666
Lex Records
