M(h)aol
Something Soft
MERGE
Constance Keane is on a roll. Last year, the Irish musician and producer released one 2024’s most exciting albums in the form of Affinity, the second record by her side-project Fears. This year, she’s returned with the second full-length from her main project, M(h)aol. Ironically, this record’s title would’ve been much better suited to the Fears LP, which was, indeed, something soft and incredibly beautiful. This is not. Over the course of the album’s 11 songs, the trio weave through various belligerent post-punk and quasi-industrial aesthetics, manipulating song structures and having fun with atonal soundscapes. “Clementine,” for example, is so abrasive, cacophonous, and discordant that it almost feels like a mental breakdown set to music, challenging the listener to stick with it for its three-minute duration.
That might be the most difficult song on the record, but in the context of those that surround it, it feels like a logical midpoint—the fatal blackout before the world (or, perhaps, the simulation) resets itself. It leads up to that moment slowly, though. Opener “Pursuit” is a gentle and sparse post-punk tune, fizzing and crackling with a muted but portentous energy, while “I Miss My Dog” is an uptempo ode to a departed pet that totally eschews sentimentality and pathos for something more akin to bitter bile, both musically and lyrically. The brilliantly titled “You Are Temporary, the Internet Is Forever” contemplates the nature of modern life (on- and offline) from beyond the grave to become a scathing assessment of 21st century values, while the stop-start staccato weirdness of “E8/N16” (both trendy London postal codes) builds steadily into a powerful crescendo of confrontational, squalling feedback.
Elsewhere, “IBS” is a lustfully dark, quasi-industrial tune that could soundtrack a BDSM night in some illegal underground venue, and penultimate track “1-800-Call-Me-Back” is a feral (albeit mechanical) snarl of isolation. That’s only exacerbated by the terrifying feedback and discombobulated screams of “Coda”—which is less of a final track than an actual nightmare sprung to life. A powerfully subtle record that displays the true breadth and abilities of Keane’s songwriting skills, and proves she has many incredible strings to her bow.
