If you’re familiar with Freidrich$, you already know how experimental he is. When he approached Azalias about collaborating on a song, the work blossomed into a full-blown album. Together, they make up Outsideness, and their new album, …From What?, serves as a jetpack boost across the cosmic stretches of time and space. “Remedy,” the duo’s first demo, ignites their R&B-fueled frenzy that allows them to both chart well-marked territory and venture deeper into the volcanic core of the genre. They’re simply following their muse, and it ultimately takes them to the mountaintop.
Where “Different” is like a cheese grater scraping across your face (complementary) in style and tone, the follow-up, “Poltergeist,” catapults the listener into an off-kilter orbit. It’s that uninhibited approach that unlocks hypnotic creativity for both artists. Freidrich$’s vocals drip-drop while Azalias soars down from somewhere in the clouds. They’re a bewitching pair when allowed to just be, free from constraints of genre labels or mischievous engineers or mixers. In such a provocative place, Outsideness unearths complex compositions (“Lovers,” “Country”) and homages to the past, as they do with “Thank U,” which samples Dido’s “Thank You.”
…From What? enchants in its ability to tug on pop giants of the past and push progressively into the future. It’s vintage and brand new, inhabiting an intersection of songwriting that very well fits within the current mainstream landscape. “Cold World” self-agonizes over the state of human existence and their place within it, feeling destined for destruction. When the final bow happens, with the closing track “Ends,” there’s almost a cathartic release happening. Freidrich$ and Azalias open their literal souls across the 11 tracks, and by the end, there’s nothing left to give but let the music exist in some higher astral plane.
Outsideness experiment as the songs require it. Often, they reapply structures and musical templates from 30 years ago for something remarkably refreshing. It’s not an easy feat to mix and rework styles, but Outsideness remedies that with a set so bold that it’ll make you fall in love with music again.
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