Earlier this summer, Sueco returned with his sophomore album, Attempted Lover. Acting as his first independently released LP, its dozen songs showcase his penchant for dynamic experimentalism, fusing alternative rock, emo-rap, hyperpop, and hardcore elements into an intoxicating, and wholly unpredictable, swirl. The record also represents a full-circle moment for the Pasadena-bred musician, as he channels the spirit of his younger days by returning to his father’s garage, where he began creating music over a decade ago.
“I put this album together after coming home from a year-and-a-half of nonstop touring,” Sueco says. “It was really nostalgic for me skating around the streets I grew up on, and I decided to set up a studio in the garage of my dad’s house where I started making music about 15 years ago. I looked through about 200 demos, piecing together some of the best songs I could find, and this album is what came out of it.” Those tracks are just as imaginative as you’d expect, bringing together unexpected dance drops (“Anastasia”), references to Oasis (“Mouthful of Spiders”), and odes to bad decisions, or as Sueco puts it, a “remedy to the nihilism that really can destroy your life” (“Wanna Feel Something”).
Read more: 9 bands commonly mistaken as emo who really aren’t
Below, Sueco guides us through the intense meaning behind every song on Attempted Lover.