Hi, everyone. Fantthony Antano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new hemlocke springs album, the apple tree under the sea.

Yes, here we have the new debut album of the singer/songwriter/producer Naomi Udu, or hemlocke springs, whose record here really has been years in the making and has been one of my most anticipated projects of the 2020s so far. Because personally, I have been wondering what the future would eventually hold for hemlocke springs ever since I was first introduced to her viral "girlfriend" single, several years back, really one of the best synth pop jams of the 2020s. How have you not heard it? Eventually, that song ended up landing on a really great EP in 2023, going...going...GONE!. Many equally good songs on that EP, my second favorite EP of the year in 2023, in fact.

And I was very much not alone in my excitement for the music on that project for hemlocke in general, because not only was Naomi able to build up a really passionate fan base behind the power of her smash singles alone, but she's also become an artist's artist lately, receiving very loud and glowing endorsements from contemporaries like Doechii as well as Chappell Roan. She's opened up multiple tours for other artists who apparently really enjoy her work since having blown up in 2022, be it either Ashnikko or Doja Cat, Conan Gray, Chappell Roan again, too.

So all of this action and all of this attention before Naomi has even dropped her first full-length album. She's really rocking the schedule of an artist with three times the career span and audience right now, which is why it's so important that this project here delivers, and I think the apple tree under the sea has the music needed to meet this moment. In fact, I think it surpasses expectations because given how good going...going...GONE! was, I wasn't really anticipating apple tree to do anything else other than just hand over more of the same: just equally good synth pop and bedroom pop jams, just album-sized.

But the apple tree actually sees Naomi building on her songwriting and production chops quite a bit, and getting a lot more personality with her pen as well. Like, the major themes and concepts behind these songs; there's a good amount of consistency here. Even a surprising amount of synergy between all the visuals in the music videos that have dropped in a promotion of this album, with apples being referenced in the lyrics of these tracks and the cover art in different parts of these videos. The consistent Ren faire chic going on with the wardrobes: hemlocke springs is really getting quite medieval with it.

This energy also turns up in the flowery language that is being used to tell the stories in these songs, which feel a lot more fantastical and even biblical than the writing on going...going...GONE!. Take the dramatic opening ballad, "the red apple", which is a tone-setter that is very much about giving into some kind of temptation. A lot of this record wrestles with the push and pull of that.

The opening lines of "the beginning of the end" jumps right into this topic: "Sometimes I think I should avoid / The simpleness of filling holes with opioids." Naomi is not pulling punches here as she further describes this difficulty of understanding herself and validating her wants and desires. Riding dramatic musical highs with these emotions, too, with reverb-soaked pre-choruses and some really bare, stripped-back refrains of, "I wish you'd go." But between all the dynamics and transitions and builds and changes across this track, across the production here. It's just such a well-assembled, detailed song.

Then "head, shoulders, knees and ankles" is really one of my favorite tracks on this thing, and one that comes from such a specific place, not only with its tale of an unrequited romantic attraction here driving her crazy, not to mention it's also being told through this angel character. But the storytelling and the instrumentation and even the vocal performance feels akin to the intro or theme music to some kid's cartoon show, which I mean in the best way possible. hemlocke springs, if somehow this music project folds completely in the next few years, definitely has a future in voice acting. She even did a recent Yo Gabba Gabba! crossover, so the energy is there.

There are also some similar dynamics at play on the track of "w-w-w-w-w", which features this banger hook ("I want your love"), booming beats, it's snappy as hell. But this demand for a love is couched in a very interesting preface: "So I would rather kill myself than look him in the eyes and say / Ha, look him in the eyes and say / I want your love," which is a very interesting contrast from a lot of the lovesick and occasionally like down bad type tracks that were on going...going...GONE!.

This is one of a handful of songs on this thing that really come from more of a place of disgust and rejection, not to mention with the grooves and some of the vocal inflections on this track. This is really one of hemlocke springs's most Prince-flavored songs to date, and it's an influence she wears well.

"moses" is a track that I could see a lot of Madonna fans getting down with. It's a very linear, layered dance-pop number with a lot of analog synth madness going on. But as futuristic as it feels in comparison to other songs here, the strings and the lyrics keep it from feeling like a departure from the fantasy vibes that the album has delivered so far.

"sever the blight" is a track that I believe has been around for a couple of years at this point. In a lot of ways between the tone of the writing, the music video too attached to this track, it really forecast the vibe of this album and just did so, so accurately between the dramatic singing, the string opening. It's a very refined, theatrical brand of synthpop with a lot of hustle as it tells the story of being forced to wait and be patient for the love of your life to be receptive to you to arrive. Once again, just like on going...going...GONE!, I am just floored by Naomi's vocals here. As she continues to grow vocally, she just has this amazing reed-like tone tone to her singing that just makes it slice through whatever mix she's singing in so boldly.

As far as the final leg of this very trim, straightforward poppy album goes, it's just as strong as the start of the record. "sense (is)", is yet another great '80s-flaved pop anthem. "set me free" is maybe more of a sensual 2000s diva pop number, but somehow this sound and this style fits Naomi's vocals well, even as she plays things a little more shy and flirtatious. It is pretty much the most out-of-place track on the entire record, but it's still a fun one.

Then the closing track is yet another palatable, very sweet, very catchy pop number, but one that has a bittersweet sadness to it because the writing very much deals in Naomi, sadly saying goodbye to a long-gone version of herself and growing and changing into a new person, which I think makes sense given a lot of the consistent themes across this record about self-exploration and growth.

The way that this album and musical era itself for hemlocke springs feels very much like I'm listening to a different person, a different artist, a different writer, when comparing it to a lot of the writing on going...going...GONE!.

But yeah, as much as maybe I wanted a little bit more and maybe a few tracks in the tracklist paled in comparison to others, I think, yet again, hemlocke springs has knocked it out of the park with a really consistent enjoyable batch of tracks that are just as good in every way as the material on going...going...GONE!. But now we have this added bonus of more theatrical instrumentation, more focused and fantastical storytelling, bolder vocals, and a more recognizable artistic persona as well. Just the growth and change has been really impressive.

This project, for as long as it took to get here, was very much well worth the wait, which is why I'm feeling a decent to strong 8 on this thing.

Anthony Fantano, hemlocke springs, forever.