ALBUM REVIEW: Jaden Tyler - Sadfish

Jaden Tyler's full-length debut project Sadfish is a romantic, earnest nostalgia trip that is nonetheless modern and cutting-edge in its production.

Reviewed by Ash

AUTHOR'S NOTE: As always, before reading this review, remember to stream the album and support Jaden Tyler! The album can be found on Spotify and Apple Music. Additionally, check out the music video for "Swimming Pool Thinking", attached here!

IT'S RARE THAT I ENCOUNTER a project that evokes such strong feelings of nostalgia as I found on Jaden Tyler's new LP, Sadfish, while also sounding very little like the music of the past. This project just dropped last Friday, and Jaden himself slid into my Instagram DMs to gently point me in its direction, thus marking my first exposure to the world of Jaden Tyler. Sadfish is Jaden's full-length debut, meshing influences from pop punk with synthpop and indietronica into a neon-flavored album that deals in heartbreak and love. Clocking in at a tight nine tracks and 28 minutes of runtime, I was excited to crack this LP open and see just what Jaden had to offer.

Pictured above: The man behind the madness, Jaden Tyler himself, performing live on the guitar.

Sadfish opens with "Zipline", a track that sees a straightforward, chunky pop-punk-meets-grunge guitar riff supported by an agile synth lead and dusty drums that ride a groove somewhere between power pop and dancehall. Apathetic, autotuned lead vocals enter soon after, showcasing a timbre that somehow reminds me of both 1980s pop rock and early 1990s grunge music, with a smooth yet detached delivery anchored in grunge melodies and chords. The vocal is really nicely engineered on this track, with the reverb swelling at choice moments that make the whole lead performance pop that much more. The vocal harmonies that come in during the second verse are really nice (though I do feel that they start fighting for space with the guitar a little) and do an excellent job preparing the listener for the track's climactic final section, when the drums slow down and Jaden delivers some gorgeous high sustains to close out the song.

"Common Ground" sees bitcrushed, retro pop drums find a home under hollow pad chords. Jaden's vocals are a little more raw here, which works quite well amongst this laid-back, quietly emotional soundscape; I did find the vocal performance to be a little shaky, especially when the melodies dip down below the lower third octave, but on the whole I think it works with this track's vulnerable vibe. The pre-chorus chord progression is really nice and manages to be thoroughly unpredictable without ever feeling unnatural. The chorus vocals and melodies actually remind me quite a bit of Ethan Crowley's music. After this, we get some strange tempo switches in the second verse that didn't quite gel with me; I didn't think they felt especially natural. Nonetheless, the harmony work in the second chorus is very nicely textured, and the ad-libs that surface between lines are a nice touch. The moments where Jaden pushes into his higher register definitely communicate the emotion of the song successfully, and the last chorus soars beautifully.

The third track, aptly titled "Track 3 Pop Song", opens with a slow build as watery chords and vocals enter over sparse, pseudo-trap percussion. The deep kick drum, punchy snare sample, and flickering hi-hats back autotuned backing vocals and smarmy, clever lyrics for a distinctly tongue-in-cheek character. The chorus melody is very catchy and conveys a sort of detached yet fun spirit that enables Jaden's performance to fit this track very well; this vocal performance in particular screams pop punk for me, a genre which Jaden slips into with remarkable ease. The production is super dynamic as well, with Jaden employing various filters and constantly shifting the sound selection as he adds and subtracts various elements in a way that manages to make the track feel like a steadily evolving pop experience. The mix does feel a little smeared, at least in my opinion, since there's a lot of reverb and some details get a little lost in the reverbrations, but that's not a huge complaint from my end, since I feel that the vibe of the track remained intact either way. Anyways, this track was a huge deviation from the previous two, but I found that it worked really well nonetheless and made for a thoroughly enjoyable listen. This track was a really fun deconstruction of pop music and I loved the listening experience it affords.

Complex polyrhythms split between syncopated drums and arpeggiated, soft synth melodies form the instrumental background for "Sparkle". Jaden's vocals are far back in the mix and soaked in reverb, which I actually really liked; the decision to push the vocals so far back in the mix gave the track a spacious and somewhat lonely vibe I thought worked quite well. Nonetheless, Jaden remains remarkably intelligible despite sounding so far away. The guitar solo at the end of the track is quite well-performed, conveying a bombastic '80s flair dripping with pathos.

Pop punk chords, panning synth arpeggios, and cavernous drums open the following track, "Without You". The slow build and understated presentation combine with Jaden's heartfelt lyrics and vocal performance to successfully convey the post-heartbreak sense of emptiness accompanied with the cautious optimism that follows. The guitar tones are really nice on this track; I really dig the use of chorus and reverb, which results in a tastefully watery pop rock guitar tone that doesn't feel overprocessed. Jaden manages the dynamism of his production quite well, often changing out plugins and employing tasteful automation; in a further showcase of this, the distortion kicking onto the lead vocals at the end of the last chorus is a really nice touch, as are the variously processed vocal snippets that close out the track.

"Swimming Pool Thinking", the lead single from the album, opens with a sweet vocoder section, which is always a good way to gain my favor. Distorted 808 bass and trap drums kick in with the first verse. The cavernous, distorted guitar power chords in the prechorus are a really nice, pad-like cinematic texture. The production on this track is truly immaculate, though the chorus on this track admittedly isn't my favorite. This could also just be my ears and brain hearing things that aren't there, but it sounds to me like the pitch correction on the vocal is slightly out of tune with the rest of the track during the second verse specifically, which really pulled me out of the experience for a second. Nonetheless, this track boasts strong production and infectious energy, and I can certainly see why Jaden might have picked it as the lead single.

"Thank You for Making It This Far" follows, marking a bit of a slowdown from the previous track's breakneck pace and frenetic energy. A crushed, spacey vocal performance floats over major key guitar riffs to give this track a relaxed, introspective atmosphere. To my surprise, the track goes fully instrumental after a short verse, which was a decision I ended up really loving. The instrumental breaks showcase some really well-assembled, tasteful production that leans towards chill, relaxed techno in the vein of Tchami and Mall Grab. The soft piano rolls and fuzzy drums are nicely complemented by washes of synths while keeping the whole soundscape relatively sparse and not overproduced in the slightest: a decision which I thought paired perfectly with this track's title, that almost reads like it's addressed directly to the listener. As someone who generally isn't the biggest fan of interludes and interlude-like tracks on albums, I found myself really loving this one, and Jaden's production really brings it home for me.

On "Maybe I Will", the second single from the album, 8-bit video game synths and staticky trap drums create a chill atmosphere before the anthemic chorus comes crashing in. The chorus melody here is one of the album's best and is genuinely extremely catchy; Jaden showcases a fast-paced flow rendered through a hard-hitting earworm of a melody backed with Owl City-esque synth lines and chugging pop drums. The use of the vocoder to provide harmonies is also a great decision that lends the track a lot of texture. I catch some pop-adjacent glitchcore influences, especially in the huge breakdown at the end where the whole track degenerates into glitchy synth phrases. I loved this track overall; the chorus absolutely soars and I love the sense of energy and momentum it conveys, which for me, served mostly to cement Jaden as a very capable songwriter.

"Burning" emerges from the figurative rubble left by the violent dissassembly at the end of the previous track, as a simple, round synth bass and echoing textures form a cinematic buildup to the entrance of the first verse, which features Jaden's vocals at their rawest yet, leaving only his signature autotune. His vibrato is really great on this track and lends the song a lot of emotion. The backing harmonies are truly lovely on this track, and they're processed in a way that creates a thoroughly enveloping and immersive atmosphere; it feels like I'm floating amongst the numerous layered voices. The second verse sees Jaden become more distant and digitized, like singing through an old radio slathered in Autotune. After the harmonies enter once more during a short break, the song soon fades out and the album ends. I guess it could be argued that it wasn't needed, but I found myself waiting for a third verse and a climactic moment where the track could really explode and soar.The fact that we didn't get such a climax left me wanting a little more at the end of this record, though perhaps that was intentional.

Overall, Sadfish was a project that felt very nostalgic for me all the way through. It's not that it sounds overtly 1980s in its presentation, because it doesn't, but Jaden nonetheless managed to capture something really poignant that I struggle to articulate. Maybe it's the combination of old analog synth sounds put through late-2000's synthpop melodies and RC-20 RetroColor-like vinyl noise that give it that nostalgic feeling for me; it's like a strange marriage between the time period the public zeitgeist seems to be nostalgic for (the '80s) and the time period during which I grew up (the late '00s/early '10s), and it somehow totally works. The soundscape of this album is certainly unique; it has a distinctly retro, neon flair, like a snapshot of the now-distant 1980s viewed through nostalgia glasses and soaked in vinyl crackle. In that sense, Sadfish rather successfully captures the mystic romanticism surrounding the decades that had long since ended by the time all of us were born. My point in saying all this is that for me, that soundscape elicits a consistent feeling of yearning for something more, of wanting something long since lost to time, which suits the album's themes of heartbreak and unrequited love rather well, and really adds to the overall emotional experience for me. Maybe that's my own personal takeaway, and maybe that's not something that every listener will experience, but at least for me, Sadfish struck a chord very close to home, and it resonated with me in a way not many projects do.

I suppose if I had to offer constructive feedback (which I do; it's my job, after all), I'd venture to say that I wish the album featured more clear hooks. Songs like "Track 3 Pop Song" and "Maybe I Will" prove that Jaden can absolutely write really good choruses, and I find myself wishing that he'd flexed that muscle a little more. Having said that, I also loved some of the less overtly pop efforts on this record, most notably "Thank You for Making It This Far", which is not and never will be a pop song, so maybe all I'm saying is that I just wanted more tracks out of this project. Jaden's vocals are also sometimes a tad shaky in my opinion. Nonetheless, his laconic and disaffected style does suit these chill instrumentals very well, and he generally holds his own as a vocalist quite well across this project. The production remains a consistent strength, and Jaden successfully captures the emotion of these songs and conveys it in a tight, nine-track package that held my full attention all throughout. Jaden Tyler is poised for an exciting musical journey through MTech and I hope that the next time we hear from him, it's with a project just as creatively driven and emotionally rich as this one was.

Personal enjoyment score: 9 out of 10

Standout tracks: "Common Ground", "Track 3 Pop Song", "Thank You for Making It This Far", "Maybe I Will"