Syndrome by SELF IMPROVEMENT

Perhaps in the contemporary simulacra wherein copies are all copies of other copies, the sense of the fraught sophomore effort is accentuated even more so. In a world of endless repetitions and reproductions the question becomes what can or will be created next? As if on cue, Self Improvement returns with a response to this question on their second LP Syndrome —10 tracks packed with danceable bass lines, skittish R&B infused post-punk drums, excitable angular guitar riffs, and urgent political lyrics. Recorded between January of ’23 and March of ’24 at Wiggle World, which barely survived the recent LA wildfires, the record is a product of its environment in very real and sometimes uncanny ways. As a collaborative pastiche, as an embrace and rejection of genre and history, this record is both very much of its time and beyond such concepts as timeliness.

The “originality”, if one may use such a gauche term, is in the collaborative effort involved in the writing and recording of Syndrome, in bringing it to the world. Indeed, this time around the band continues to develop their collaborative approach to songwriting and recording with producer and spiritual advisor Dylan Hadley (who played drums on the first record) helping to expand their sound with a range of textures and blips, beeps & noises—some provided by engineer Spencer Hartling as well. Within this environment various actors/characters move to the fore and recede—always in dialogue with each other, encoding the tumult and joy of collaboration into the DNA of the record itself. The lead track, “Settle Down”, provides a perfect encapsulation: the rhythm section of Pat Moonie (bass) and Reuben Kaiban (drums) is the engine for the shouty-to-sweet & melodic delivery of Jett Witchalls' vocals which is in turn mirrored by Jonny Reza’s angular guitar riffs. The band members are elements of a collage that creates something greater than its simple sum. The lyrics deal with the contradictory expectations of “marriage age” women and the music itself creates just the sort of claustrophobic environment that heightens the theme of the song—driven home by Witchalls' vocals that express the sweeping range of roles that women are expected to perform: shouty & sweet, coquette & mother. There is a similar dynamic on a track like “Scam”, where the instrumentation provides a steady march behind Witchalls' sermon-like indictment of contemporary culture. Or “Dissolved”, where the verse and chorus musically reflect the odd mix of elation and dejection that characterizes our contemporary political landscape creating a tonal embodiment of Witchalls' lines “Hope is coming / hope is near, they’re not coming / they’re not here”.

On Syndrome, Self Improvement dances upon a pleasing tightrope between influences and their own distinctive identity, easily traversing the space between modern takes on Wire or No-Wave-y dissonance a la Teenage Jesus and the Jerks and invoking the radical sensibilities (both musically and otherwise) of Crass or X-Ray Spex along the way. A document of collective action, of collaboration in production, performance, and conception, Syndrome stands out from the ready-made and formulaic music that is the soundtrack to our current cultural decline. As a result, Self Improvement have made a record that is vital in sound and concept and impossible to ignore. -Ben Michaelis