FLASH

Riding off the success of "someone new", Arden has embodied that energy into a fast-paced yet concise 20 minute heater LP. The production here is EXTREMELY synthesizer heavy too a point where I think it would have even been too much for mainstream pop back when this style was at it's peak in the 2010's. Not too say this sounds outdated though. It certainly has a fresh new car scent too it. If you aren't a fan of heavy synth pop, I doubt this will really move the needle because it really is just dedicated to what is already a proven method. The synthesizers are by no mean soft and are often on the edge of hard to listen too if it were mixed slightly different. That is the motto of this album though as it constantly is bombastic and in your face. "someone new", "black & white", & "paranoid" are all great examples of what Arden does well with this sound and the rest of the album isn't far off. "give & take" does feature an off-tune melody from Arden's vocals that do make the song the worse here. "chemical" also doesn't really do it for me either as it is, comparatively, slower than the rest of the album. While he may have been going for something different to close out the project, I think doubling down on the formula would have been a good send off considering it's hard to get old of this when it's only 20 minutes.