18.01.18

The latest project from Porches, aka Aaron Maine, feels more sincere than ever. With deeply emotional lyrics, the 14-song tracklist is packed with themes of goodbyes, inner conflicts and uncertainty, as the New York musician croons over everything from silence to experimental pop to straight-up dance tracks.

While The House feels like a reinvention of Porches in many ways, a few elements remain the same. The imagery of water that defined 2016 album Pool still seeps through Maine’s lyricism. The sounds of the album are still bound to trigger a nostalgia with its dreamy, ticking 80s compositions. And tunes like Find Me and Goodbye help to further cement Maine as the reigning champion of electronic melancholia. Over pounding beats and thumping synths, Maine’s voice breaks through in cries of anxiety and vulnerability, pulling at the heartstrings whilst you tap your feet subconsciously.

But amongst the usual sad boy dance anthems, The House triumphs in Maine’s experimentation. keren, the mysteriously whispered interlude, sees Porches in almost unrecognisable form. Where Pool so successfully sought to create an intricate and lavish wall of sound, the sonic landscape of The House travels through vastly different worlds, not always focused on creating a coherent aesthetic. And with contributions from the likes of (Sandy) Alex G, Dev Hynes and Kaya Wilkins, as well as live band members Maya Laner and Cameron Wisch, the diversity of the project makes total sense.

It’s a testament to Maine’s flexibility that – much like the jump from Porches’ debut project Slow Dance in the Cosmos into the glossier world of Pool – The House somehow feels exactly like a return we expect from the Porches we know and love; just refreshed, and ever so slightly reconfigured.

Natty Kasambala