For any artist who’s collaborated with 100 gecs, there’s really no predicting what their arsenal of influences might include. underscores are no exception—their new album for Mom+Pop Music, Wallsocket, takes a hyperpop approach to that label’s tradition of breaking some of the biggest indie rock acts of the past decade, while occasionally leaning into a C&W aesthetic. In fact there’s hardly a through-line among the album’s four pre-album singles, with the songwriter instead embracing the hyperpop credo of “everything all the time.”
Yet to hear the artist outline her influences on the record, there’s a heavy focus on ’00s indie-rock nostalgia and classic pop-country balladeering (this includes Madonna), while perhaps the more direct inspiration of Beck (his wilding-out albums, not so much Sea Change) bolstered Wallsocket’s ability to dodge self-seriousness. Elsewhere, Imogen Heap provides a blueprint for off-the-cuff dialog-speak and Springsteen lends his narrative touch to a record that, in its own way, embraces the tradition of Americana.
With the full record out tomorrow, you can check out underscores’ playlist below, along with her writeups detailing the inclusion of each track. You can pre-order the record here.
Sufjan Stevens, “Concerning the UFO sighting near Highland, Illinois”
Both of the States albums (Illinois and Michigan) from Sufjan were super inspirational from a conceptual standpoint. Since my last album, fishmonger, I’ve loved centering my music and visuals on a geographical location.
The Raconteurs, “Salute Your Solution”
I listened to a lot of Jack White growing up. I feel like if we use the rockist definition of “rockstar” or whatever, then he might be one of the last ones. This song also plays at the end of Zombieland. I looove Zombieland.
Beck, “Where It’s At”
Revisiting Beck—especially Odelay and Guero—was a major part of writing this album, particularly the more slapstick parts of it. He seems to have always fused anything and everything in his music.
Imogen Heap, “Loose Ends”
Imogen Heap is my favorite lyricist, wholeheartedly. She’s got this way of repurposing trite lines you’d hear in movies with, like, super idiosyncratic screenwriters: “Please clear the area,” “Get off my case,” etc. A lot of the lines on Wallsocket—“You won’t get away with this,” “Stop me if you heard this one before”—are heavily inspired by her writing style.
Lucinda Williams, “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road”
My parents used to play this album all the time; this is probably the biggest reason why a lot of country/blues sonics show up on Wallsocket. Lucinda Williams has one of my favorite voices ever.
Bruce Springsteen, “Highway Patrolman”
I stumbled upon Nebraska when I first started writing Wallsocket and got super obsessed with how amazing the storytelling was. I still have yet to do the Bruce Springsteen deep dive—I’ve been told the rest [of the albums] don’t sound like this.
Madonna, “Don’t Tell Me”
Madonna was the first artist I fell in love with; I think I was five years old. This album, Music, is the first piece of music I can remember listening to. It’s this crazy amalgamation of pop, country, trance, etc. Maybe the single biggest inspiration for the album as a whole. American Life as well; everything she did with Mirwais.
Van Morrison, “Wild Night”
We had Van Morrison in the car as well. I know he’s a bit of a wad, but this song just makes me so happy.
Sky Ferreira, “Ghost”
I always thought of Sky Ferreira as a pop girlie, but I went back and listened to this EP [Ghost] and it’s kinda pop-country. Both this song and “Sad Dream” were getting rinsed for sure.
Jason Isbell, “Elephant”
I was looking for quintessential country albums from the past decade or so and came up on Southeastern immediately. It’s got some of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard on it.
Kwon Jin Ah, “You already have”
I’m a huge K-pop fan; it seeps its way into some of the narratives of the album. I found this ballad because one of the members of fromis_9 covered it and I thought the song was gorgeous.
Gillian Welch, “Revelator”
At the very beginning of the writing process, I got coffee with an artist I really admire, and they recommended I listen to Gillian Welch. My dad tells me we had her CD in the car, too, but I don’t remember. I had her on loop throughout the writing process though, especially this song and “Everything Is Free.”
