Back with her second album for Seattle's Sub Pop Records, immersive pop artist Hannah Jadagu attempts to find sonic and thematic meaning between the conflicting forces of solitude and connection on her latest record, Describe.
The Skinny: Following 2023's Aperture debut, Jadagu's uproot from the New York community she'd nestled in fired off fraught tensions that come with stepping into life's unknown. Such trepidation has been channelled into Describe's bustling soundscapes. Pushing aside the primacy of her guitar, Jadagu embraces a wider scope of electronic textures and soulful expanse as an atmospheric cradle for her greater songcrafting ambitions.
Emotional peaks are woven through with evocative aura, and there's a beguiling swirl of strung-out shoegaze and chilly arrangements pulling you into Jadagu's contemplative mist. Such washes can lapse into formless fug, an ebbing definition to each cut, teasing promise that never quite catches up with execution. Along with her artfully autotuned vocals, one can't shake off a nagging frustration for more personality to sprout from the otherwise otherworldly songs that Jadagu keenly orchestrates.
Yet, while a grab for extra bite hangs in the air, Describe never entirely loses its path toward effective leftfield pop. Anchored by an evident bold leap into new ideas and territory, Jadagu spins an engaging, if waning, exploration of indie musings wrapped in her own personal and affecting lyrical reverie.
The Verdict: Jumping into a deeper well of influence and aural palletery, Jadagu conjures a glowing series of partially transportive soul rock across describe, but remains tethered to a safety zone that compromises her teases of originality.