On July 21, 2023, fans of producer and DJ aldn were treated to a unique unveiling of his fifth EP, ‘the end.’ In this 8-track project, aldn takes us on a journey through the highs and lows of a tumultuous relationship.
aldn gradually unveiled different sections of the album cover each day by unblurring different portions of the cover.
The release serves as aldn’s eulogy to hook-up culture that is accompanied by skewed hyperpop beats, guitar riffs, and poppy melodies. “the end” highlights a more nihilistic persona and fits the overarching themes of loneliness and heartbreak present throughout the entire project.
aldn opens the project with “golden promise” on a funky beat. This track serves as the opening to the main storyline of the EP exploring aldn’s struggle to determine the feelings of a romantic interest and expressing fear that he might scare them off. With a blend of synths, percussions, and nostalgic beats the song shows the process of catching feelings and how he hopes he doesn’t lose himself in the midst of his feelings. This opening seamlessly flows into the second track “end of the night”.
This opening seamlessly flows into the second track “end of the night” which touches upon aldn’s admission of his feelings despite his initial fears. The instrumentals keep their light and airy synth that contrasts the prominent kick drums heard in the choruses and bridges. “What’s the catch? / Are you just gonna leave me hanging / When you find another guy who’s more your type?”, aldn asks as he reinforces his belief in this situationship and the emotions that are explored throughout the EP.
The project takes a sonic change as track three, “buffalo 66” starts to play. The opening sounds like the crackle of satellite radio and is coated in distortion until the opening verse begins to sound as a retro bass beat accompanies. The vocals of this song have a lot of variety as the vocals sound monotonous while the backing vocals chant along “One, two, three/Get out of the car/You don’t know me/We can’t be apart/So please, baby/Don’t play with my heart/And you’ll go free/When you play your part”. In an effort to mimic the plot of the classic 1998 film of the same name, aldn and his lover take off on a trip to his hometown and discover that they cannot be separated despite their circumstances.
Not a stranger to features, track four is a bedroom pop track that features American singer-songwriter Chloe Moriondo. Moriondo’s strength is how she blends elements of bedroom pop and indie pop and it can be heard within the instrumentals of “pressure”. Both artists meet at a middle ground of both of their sounds with the distinctions of aldn’s moody vocals to Moriondo’s delicate ones showing the excitement and anxiety of finding new love. The second verse of this song is one of the best-delivered lines on the whole project as both artists sing “And I can’t live like this/It’s all, it’s all so stupid/It’s all so trivial to me/Is this torture?/Is this slaughter?” that adds so much flair vocally and melds perfectly with its glitch-pop production and indie drum beat.
The next three tracks are going to be grouped together as I believe all three of them act as the stand-out pieces of the EP. “why do you fight” is more bubbly compared to the rest of the list, while “sub 32” is genre-melding with more indie-pop guitars and electronic influences, and “headstrong gunner” is a curated glitch-pop earworm that I have always associated with aldn and his production. There are elements of nightcore and alternative rock in these tracks, specifically in “headstrong gunner”, that leave an infectious uptempo dance beat that talks of themes of death, self-induced loneliness and betrayal.
aldn takes on the role of the narrator and tells the story of a heart being devoured by paranoia and nerves. Throughout these tracks, it is hard to tell which side aldn is on and they all act as a rude awakening to people who might be blindly in love.
“hate me” closes out the album in a hazy dreamlike way as aldn comes to terms with his own morality and brings up his intrusive suicidal thoughts. But, this song also holds an air of jadedness that slowly loses its edge as in the first pre-chorus he states “Cause if you’re at the top of my list, you bеtter look out behind”, and by the second pre-chorus he loses all conviction and says, “’Cause I’m standing at the top of this bridge and I think I can fly” showing he’d rather just take it out on himself than the people around him, specifically the romantic interest he mentioned throughout this EP.
“the end” is a sonic record of aldn’s growth as an artist as he incorporates indie sound elements into his pre-established hyper-pop foundation as he continues to evolve his self-taught producing and storytelling skills through his craft.
