A groundbreaking new indie album, “Hornet Disaster” by Weatherday, released on Tuesday. Weatherday’s sophomore album, “Hornet Disaster” manages to be an immersive, experimental, and moving experience throughout its one hour and 16 minute runtime. The album builds upon the strengths of their debut, “Come In,” and adds even more texture and diversity.
Weatherday is a lo-fi indie rock solo music project created by a relatively mysterious musician who goes by “Sputnik.” Weatherday’s debut album, with its electrifying riffs and heartfelt storytelling, became an instant hit with underground indie fans. The most popular song garnered over 8 million listens to date.
Sputnik has vastly improved their production skills on “Hornet Disaster.” “Come In” often dove too deep into the noise-rock sound, hindering the album’s immersive qualities. Where their debut was muddy and cluttered, “Hornet Disaster” is spacious and beautiful, while still keeping the lo-fi sound that gave it its appeal. This vast and open sound allows the different aspects of the music to shine.
The opening and title track, “Hornet Disaster,” immediately makes this difference clear to the listener. The main guitar riff is impactful, but not overpowering. This is a huge step up from the first song and title track on “Come In,” where the production quality causes the riff to be so prominent that it forms most of the song’s structure, making it less interesting. A similar open and beautiful sound is found on the emotional hard-hitter “Aldehydes,” where Sputnik includes a deep, swallowing string section that makes up the backdrop of the song and drives home its emotion.
Another improvement on this album is the emotional diversity. At times, “Come In” falls into the trap of being too energetic and noisy. This causes the songs to blend together for the listener, making the album overall less memorable. “Hornet Disaster,” however, avoids this problem with songs like “Hug” and “Chopland Sedans,” which are not only a breath of fresh air, but also contain different movements within themselves. “Hug” has a particularly memorable start, with a solitary and soothing electric guitar, while more drums, guitars, and electronic instruments emerge and culminate in a beautiful and powerful cacophony. “Green Tea Seaweed Sea,” my favorite track on the record, develops similarly, but almost in a backwards order. The song starts with a low energy, rising in intensity with loud distorted guitars and falling again shortly after.
Such emotion would not be found in these cacophonies without Sputnik’s vulnerable and passionate lyrics and vocals. Lines such as “There are days like this one where I haven’t seen my face” from “Ripped Apart By Hands” beautifully illustrate ideas of feeling outside of one’s body, while lines like “Like a blanket from the attic, you are wonderfully cold” from “Blanket” paint an image of a failed relationship filled with regret.
Overall, “Hornet Disaster” is a solid lo-fi indie album that effectively builds upon Sputnik’s previous work, resulting in a solid tracklist with many touching moments. It is available for streaming on all platforms.
