Hi, everyone. Bigthony Mistaketano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new venturing album, Ghostholding.

Here we have the debut album of a music project that if you closely follow this channel, shouldn't be entirely new to you as the mastermind behind it is a somewhat relevant figure in the internet-based underground music scene today. Of course, I'm talking about songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and artist who has multiple pseudonyms and side projects to their name at this point, Jane Remover.

Even though the history of venturing for Jane does go back a few years, we are hitting a landmark moment here with this being, again, the first official debut studio record, the word "studio" being used with big quotes because this album is quite lofi, which we will get into.

Now, I guess the question to ask off the bat is: why the name venturing? Why this record? Why this sidestep seemingly in Jane Remover's artistic progress, especially with a new record under the Jane Remover name slated to be released very soon? Well, one of the only reasons why I think going into a project like venturing for this batch of songs, particularly makes sense is just how different aesthetically it is from Jane's recent work under the Jane Remover name, other stuff Jane has put out recently. Because the greater web of Jane's discography is so versatile and all over the place, it only makes sense that they would play with this idea of identity and alternative ways of presenting their work. I think this forthcoming Jane Remover album is going to be one of their most high-profile projects to date, too.

The tracks on this venturing album, as I said, are venturing in a much different direction. Across this record, we have a very consistent 13 tracks and 51 minutes of material, which is very much not cut from the same cloth as recent singles such as a "Flash in the Pan" as well as "Magic I Want You". We have more of a straight up rock affair on this record, which in a way you could compare aesthetically to recent releases such as Census Designated, but I feel like these two projects are very much distinctly different, especially considering how loud and dense and overpowering a lot of the sounds and mixes on Census were.

Meanwhile, Ghostholding, by comparison, though it is in its own way a very noisy record, there's a bit more breathing room, more of an emphasis on riffs and groups. And overall, this record seems almost like an artistic challenge for Jane to do a lot with a little, because given just how low-fi the instrumentation and mixes on this record are, there's only so much room and space for nuance and color and layers, as a lot of the tracks on this thing are driven by relatively blown out drums, muddy bass, raw guitars, too, that have almost a '90s slacker rock or shoegaze flair to them, really bringing big Dinosaur Jr. as well as Sonic Youth vibes. And again, while the mixes on this record may be messy, I think the overall listening experience is a more pleasurable one than Census was, and most certainly leaves more room for passionate vocal performances, especially on the spacier, more motif-type cuts that are very meditative and low-key, whether that be "Something Has to Change" or "Guesthouse".

The more rock and cuts on the record really go off as well in terms of just bringing a visceral energy and some tight drums and guitars, like on the track "Recoil" which is just pure '90s underground rock and roll through and through. The first leg of "Debt Forever" is also just like some living, breathing Smashing Pumpkins worship, which eventually launches into this incredible anthem whose melodies are so sharp, they just slice through the lofi, muck, and distortion, and haze that the mix on this track offers.

Now, if there is one major issue with the LP for me, there is an overall lack of variety, and I do think the record has a relatively weak start with "Play My Guitar" being one of the blandest cuts of the bunch in this tracklist. Also, the song "No Sleep" straight up features a terrible nonstarter type drumbeat, which doesn't really sync up all that much with the guitars or the vocals at all. I feel like I'm listening to the drums, guitars, and singing all respectively do their own thing. The following track is slightly better, but not by much.

But once the tracklist on this thing starts dishing out highlights, the record really hits its stride, whether it's with tracks that take the form of barn burners or slow burners that hit these really thick, heavy, loud, noisy, chaotic peaks toward the end. "Spider", "We Don't Exist", "Sick/Relapse".

"Famous Girl" is another highlight on the record, which is a really cute during meditation on Jane's feelings with their relative fame they've built for themselves off of their art and music. It's not flexing, it's not bragging. It's a track whose lyrics are still riddled with fear and anxiety and concern, but there's still an appreciation going on here in the writing. Jane seems more thankful than anything in terms of how they're spelling their feelings out on this one.

The final two tracks on the record, I think, more or less are okay. I don't see what musically or aesthetically they bring to the project that all of the previous songs didn't already. Might be a bit of a case of this record overstaying its welcome a bit, while we do get a lot of tracks and quite a bit of material with, again, almost an hour of run time. I wouldn't say it's the most versatile chunk of tracks I've ever heard in the lofi realm.

Still, though, on this record, we have a lot of highlights, some really solid performances when they are great, standout songs that are somehow memorable despite how much noise they're caked in, some solid riffs and playing, and some really respectable throwback '90s worship, too, which is why I'm feeling about a 7 out of 10 on this one.

Anthony Fantano. venturing. Forever.