Hi, everyone. Yardthony Worktano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new yeule album, Evangelic Girl is a Gun.

Here we have the latest LP from what I understand is a London-based music project still, masterminded by singer, songwriter, producer, Nat Ćmiel. Someone whose work under the yeule name has consistently been mysterious, conceptual, as well as eerily beautiful, exploring themes like despondence and posthumanism on early projects like Serotonin II.

And these are even ideas that extend over to Nat's last full-length LP Soft Scars in 2023, despite the fact that yeule was taking a decidedly less ambient and experimental approach on that project, delivering songs with a much more straightforward approach, a lot more rock influences, noisier production. And while it wasn't a perfect album, it was one that signified that yeule currently is in a bit of a state of flux, a transitional moment that might provide some new evolution for Nat creatively on the other side.

And Evangelic Girl is a record that definitely reminds you how far this project has come, because for the most part, the persona-based theatrics of 2022's Glitch Princess are nowhere to be found. And the ambient influences that were once prominent on yeule's early stuff have been pretty much jettisoned, too, on this one. What's clear is that yeule is not really the music project it once was. So the question is, what are we left with now? What has that older sound and aesthetic been replaced with?

Well, while I can say yeule has most definitely succeeded in creating a record here that I think has a wider appeal than projects like Serotonin II, the sounds and songs on this record are nowhere near as abstract or deeply atmospheric and dreamy. But in pursuing maybe a more generally listener-friendly vibe, I think the end result here is an unfocused project with no real specificity to it and very little in the way of memorable songs, too. Plus that very interesting dystopian, ambient, depressive, posthumanist blend of sounds and ideas has been replaced with a lot of nostalgic pastiche.

I mean, take, for example, the opening track "Tequila Coma", which, yeah, we do get some allusions to pixels and data in the lyrics here and there on this track, but the whole thing still sounds like a very vague spin on a '90s trip hop with a profoundly breathy and sleepy vocal performance that makes me feel like I'm moving through molasses. And while there are some sweet high notes hit at a few points on the song, the endlessly moody crooning fails to actually deliver a memorable chorus or any sticky melodies. I mean, really what this song brings overall is just a fleeting, nostalgic vibe. And the rest of this album, for the most part, feels like a bunch of re-appropriated aesthetics and ideas from this same era, but without a whole lot of song and melody ideas to really back it up and make it exciting and hit hard.

"The Girl Who Sold Her Face", for example, is this sad, syrupy, acoustic rock and grunge blend with a few heavy guitar passages. But again, it really lacks a standout chorus to bring the song home.

"Eko" changes things up into a glitzy alt dance number with some soaring lead vocals on the chorus that sound pretty decent. And while I can commend this track for having some decent contrast to it, I feel like a cut like this just gets lost in the sea of '90s and 2000s music nostalgia that's out there currently.

"1967", though, I think is one of the most interesting songs on the entire LP. It's this twisted acoustic cut with very gnarly and glitchy production. Meanwhile, the lyrics of the track see Nat taking to task the 1960s Singapore National Service Amendment, requiring men to take part in the military, as they describe feeling torn up over their partner having to join the military, have their head shaved, crying.

Again, I feel like I'm not against a straightforward approach with the songwriting, with the production in theory on an album like this. I just would have liked more lyrics like this that had more substance and focus behind them. Because going deeper into the album, there are just multiple tracks that really are not up to the task of holding my attention and don't really amount to much more than just like very moody wallpaper with some throwback rock and electronic vibes.

Be that the song "Psycho" or the song "Whatever", or even the closing track "Skullcrusher", which is like this very slow, forgettable build up to a very intense and noisy heavy wall of guitar noise that just coasts out into the abyss. It really just feels like a cop-out ending for this already very scant album, like really the biggest so what? you could end your record with.

I think the only other track on the LP I really got something out of was the song "Dudu", which is another throwback alt-pop number that once again brings some downtempo and trip hop vibes with some really cool vocal loops, a blissful explosive chorus with some leads that are worthy of Cranberries comparison, too. Again, it's all these types and layers and shades of nostalgia from the '90s and 2000s coming together into a kaleidoscope of sound. Frankly, a pretty sharp song, too, as this track does feature, I think, the best chorus on the entire record.

But yeah, unfortunately, I think pushing yeule in this more pop-centric direction, while, again, it does give the project maybe a bit more of an edge and an appeal in some respects, at the end of the day, it just feels like a half-measure, because there are far catchier and more memorable and more engaging albums out there, even ones that are dabbling, once again, in '90s and 2000s rock and pop and reliving all of it for a nostalgic appeal.

And I think, inadvertently, yeule has put themselves in competition with that saturation of artists out there doing that right now, when the original stuff, the more ambient stuff, the more conceptual stuff this project was founded on was much more unique and memorable and alluring and special in the overall music landscape.

Now, that's not to say there isn't potential in this direction, but I think it's going to have to take embracing even bolder sounds and ideas and just better, more memorable choruses and song structures, if heading in this direction is truly going to work and make yeule continue to be a standout music project, which is why right now I'm feeling pretty much a light to decent 5 on this one.

Anthony Fantano, yeule, Forever.