- The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have hit all sides, some more disproportionately than others, as is the nature of disasters. The rich, powerful and well-situated rarely rub shoulders with the hoi-polloi in suffering from the effects of any natural disaster, pandemic or economic collapse. While the tragic death toll from the pandemic has cut a swathe through older generations, the lasting effect of 2020’s hubristic gift will be borne by the generation born within a decade either side of the turn of the 21st century.
The artistic expression of that generation has found form, issuing content to express their anger, confusion, despair and, for some, a glimmer of hope; take Taylor Swift’s unexpected Folklore, for instance. The “other” TS – Troye Sivan – has set out his stall in the growing marketplace of young musicians' reactions to the greatest dislocation to modern life since that generation was born.
His second EP IN A DREAM follows almost two years after his well-regarded second album, Bloom. The pop ideas he and producer Oscar Görres (aka OzGo) explored there are developed further on what Sivan calls a “concept” EP. The six tracks differ from each other and yet are not disjointed because of the careful production Görres applies on Sivan’s voice which is both plaintive and enticing, without feeling twee, Sivan’s first release from the EP back in April, Take Yourself Home is the opening track, a raw and personal response to the then unfolding pandemic with a tender, yet painful, swaying rhythm. It’s still packing a punch today - "I’m tired of the city / If I’m gonna die, let’s die somewhere pretty." (Apparently he left his home in LA to return to Australia as the world locked down and is now based either in his home city of Perth or perhaps in Melbourne… maybe we will get a second COVID-19 EP out of this experience?) The next track was also dropped as a single in July, Easy has all the colour of a trip back to 1984 with bright sunny pastels, a very obliging keyboard and drum-machine combo and any moment now you expect Molly Ringwald and the then dreamy James Spader to come swinging around the corner.
In between Easy and the raunchy STUD is a fragment could cry just thinking about you which makes you ponder just what sort of emotional rollercoaster Sivan is currently on. Starting with an acoustic guitar, drumbeat and that aching voice, almost sounding like Bob Dylan’s Knocking On Heaven’s Door it ends with the sound effect of an old style answering machine tape recorder resetting after taking a message. Rumours that Sivan has split with his long-time partner Jacob Bixenman will only get more currency when the lyrics of this EP are over-analysed.
The aforementioned STUD is something that is strongly needed by young queer folk – a totally unabashed objectifying lyric about a boy’s desire for another, however the late-night club vibe also couches lyrics that suggest some indecision on the boy’s part that perhaps this objectifying is covering some painful emotions. However it ends up being a bit of dance-banger and is sure to piss off heteronormative wannabes who have had this sort of music for decades but get all snowflakey when diverse gender and sexuality people want to claim some of that space as well.
The final two tracks are poles apart: Rager Teenager and the titular IN A DREAM. The former starts with a whimsical harmonium-like opening (very The Beatles in a way) but then builds in a slow burn as Sivan looks back to the earlier decade, when he was just a teenager, hanging out with similar “raging teenagers” – partying, cruising, sleeping around and trying to work out where they fit in the world. It makes me recall Sivan was very vocal at his Brisbane concert in September 2019 about how he loved partying in Brisbane –yes, really– and couldn’t wait to come back! The title-track is back to the same territory as Easy: syncopated '80's beats and a vocal attack that is right out of the MTV golden era, with the emotional rollercoaster in full flight. “It’s all just feeling real now / So far away but I still feel you everywhere” and “I won’t let you in again / it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever said.”
The younger generation of contemporary musicians do not seem to be put off by sharing (some might say “over-sharing”) their fragile emotional state and reactions to a brutally harsh world, where none of the disasters and actions coming from that world are their fault, yet they have to live and deal with it. Recent releases from Billie Eilish, Charlie XCX and the standout confessional album of the year (sorry Taylor) from Brisbane’s Cub Sport allow them –and us– to express something that is probably the only thing that will get any of us through these years of trial and tribulation: humanity. Sivan’s EP is awash with it and it’s fine to let yourself be immersed in that tide.
- Blair Martin.