{"id":5898,"date":"2017-05-29T13:39:16","date_gmt":"2017-05-29T17:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/?p=5898"},"modified":"2017-06-19T13:59:06","modified_gmt":"2017-06-19T17:59:06","slug":"sylvan-esso-what-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/sylvan-esso-what-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Sylvan Esso <br>What Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/sylvanesso-whatnow.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5900\" src=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/sylvanesso-whatnow.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/sylvanesso-whatnow.jpg 250w, https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/sylvanesso-whatnow-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a>There was no way to foresee a band like Sylvan Esso before they actually appeared. Coming from North Carolina, a state not known as a hotbed for electronic pop music, and comprised of former members of a cappella folk act Mountain Man (singer Amelia Meath) and the psychedelically leaning Megafaun (producer Nick Sanborn), on paper the band sounds like something made up for an <i>Onion<\/i> article. But the duo\u2019s 2014 debut was a surprise breakthrough that landed them heavy radio play, a well-attended national tour, and a spot in the Top 40 of the Billboard Album Charts, all of which makes for a very different scenario for the release of their second record, the appropriately titled <i>What Now<\/i> (Loma Vista Recordings).<\/p>\n<p>The oft-referenced sophomore slump is a thing for a reason, but Sylvan Esso seems to be facing the issue head on. Instead of trying to rebel from their previous success or strike a trendy pose to ensure more radio play, they have stayed the course. To be fair, radio has started sounding more like the band in recent years, so <i>What Now<\/i> sounds current without really having to try. What separates Sylvan Esso from their contemporaries is a sense of humor as they poke fun at the conventions of the world they find themselves in. \u201cRadio\u201d makes mention of the perfect length for a radio pop song (which just so happens to be the length of this radio-friendly pop song) while also deconstructing the expectations put on female pop stars.<\/p>\n<p><i>What Now<\/i> balances dance jams with moodier tracks, like the dark love song, \u201cDie Young,\u201d and the nostalgic number, \u201cThe Glow.\u201d There are also dirty, fuzzed-out diversions that seem more like four-track demos than polished pop songs. But they fit perfectly in this context, with one such song, \u201cSound,\u201d opening the record and setting an unhurried pace. The album ends in a similar, but sonically cleaner way with \u201cSlack Jaw,\u201d which features a minimalist backing track and an almost jazzy vocal, and \u201cRewind,\u201d which sounds like a glitchy chop-up of someone playing a water cooler jug while a synth quietly glides underneath.<\/p>\n<p>Sylvan Esso may never have the element of surprise again, but the confident and unbothered performances on <i>What Now<\/i> show that they aren\u2019t just a bright flash in the pan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There was no way to foresee a band like Sylvan Esso before they actually appeared. Coming from North Carolina, a state not known as a hotbed for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[34,787,2001],"class_list":["post-5898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-loma-vista-recordings","tag-sylvan-esso"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sylvan Esso What Now - The Agit Reader<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/sylvan-esso-what-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sylvan Esso What Now - The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There was no way to foresee a band like Sylvan Esso before they actually appeared. Coming from North Carolina, a state not known as a hotbed for\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/sylvan-esso-what-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheAgitReader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-29T17:39:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-06-19T17:59:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/sylvanesso-whatnow.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dorian S. Ham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@agitreader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@agitreader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dorian S. 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