Rising hyperpop artist Aldn releases his fourth EP, the end— an eight-track synth-pop discourse for the angsty and unstable. The EP descends into the psychological warfare of hook-up culture through a dominant punk and electronic aesthetic.
Since signing with Simple Stupid/Geffen Records in 2021, he continued pushing anti-pop electronic EPs, including the greenhouse (2021), good grief (May 2022), and post spring, self destruction (November 2022). Following his notoriety from curators Pigeons & Planes’s “Ones To Watch,” Aldn continues releasing new music as a resident DJ in New York City.
Originally, the greenhouse EP was an exodus from a genre Aldn continuously re-influenced. “I’m going towards the type of music I really love. Hyperpop was fun to make, and everything, but it got too easy for me to produce those kinds of beats,” he said. However, July 2022 saw his return with the single “sydney,” which honored electronic music of past generations.
The end is Aldn’s eulogy to hook-up culture, survived by sparkling melodies, guitar rips, and acute psychosis. The project’s first single, “headstrong gunner,” is a 2000s pop-punk retelling of assurance-seeking behavioral attitudes. While most of the end maintains an adrenaline factor, the lyrics have sharp teeth and bite on the menacing “buffalo ’66.”
The additional layer of Aldn’s now-or-never attitude turns semi-erotic on “pressure,” the alternative-punk Chloe Moriondo collaboration dusted with starry synths. Although his outlook turns demur nihilistic on the icy “sub 32,” it encapsulates the project’s essence: hook-up culture dehumanizes Aldn.
The Virginia-born artist broke into the hyperpop community in 2019 by producing for fellow contemporaries Glaive, midwxst, and more. Later on, Aldn shared his self-produced music to the Discord community, spawning 32 million streams and the breakout hit “glittr.”
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