- Jay Som’s music has always teetered between genres, blurring their lines in a dreamy haze, even as her music sheds light on her life. Themes such as Asian-American and queer cultural intersectionality, nostalgia and millennial life are all given an effective vehicle in her signature blend of lo-fi indie rock. However, on Anak Ko, “my child” in English, Jay Som is experimenting with the music much more adventurously. While a sonic shift by another artist may result in a less cohesive record, Anak Ko is saved from that common pitfall by its focus on Jay Som’s beaming personality, just shining through the record. If the music used to be Jay Som's bedrock, now it's Jay Som herself, bringing it all together.
Anak Ko features the best world building across a Jay Som record yet. In part it's due to collaborations with members of Vagabon, Chastity Belt and previous collaborator, Justus Proffit. Mostly, however, Anak Ko succeeds in being a genuine depiction of Jay Som’s multi-genre expression.
The album's lead single, Superbike, gears her sound in its most shoegaze direction yet. It's a dreamy, nostalgic flurry. The track builds up to a gorgeously cinematic climax, where the beautiful composition sets the tone for what's to come.
The belting power of Superbike is different enough to have caused a bit of a shock in established fans, which may have guided Jay Som to follow up with second single Tenderness. It's a sparse, raw jam with hints of jazz and funk as it swells through its four-minutes. There's a quaint, crooning quality at work in it that proves to be a regular amongst the lush sounds across Anak Ko.
There’s more experimentation to be found. The album opener If You Want It leans into the sound of some of the more lo-fi, early Jay Som tracks, such as Dive Deep and Remain. Nighttime Drive features a greater range of instrumentation to layer out the sound, including percussion, keys and woodwind instruments while Peace Out is reminiscent of Bury Me At Makeout Creek era Mitski with its driving guitars and characterised lyrics.
The track that proves to be the most interesting on the record, however, is its title track, which is even grungier than 1 Billion Dogs. It also finds a way to incorporate the pulsing retro noise you’d expect from a Nintendo 64 game.
All these flashes of different genres really fill up Anak Ko, both the song and the album. Everywhere you look something different is happening: it should be exhausting but, as it happens, it's the opposite. Ultimately -strangely but compellingly- it's all her experimentation that makes this such a cohesive product.
- Sean Tayler.