Consumer Guide Album

Hemlocke Springs: Going . . . Going . . . Gone! [AWAL EP, 2023]
Simultaneously eccentric and simplistic, original and formulaic, these seven electropop songs come from an African-born TikTok find who justcompleted a Dartmouth M.A. in medical research and for all we know could prove a genius, a flash in the pan, or both at once. Right now, I'll note that the two attention-getting openers do have more spritz than the three late entries that serve to bulk up this phase of her oeuvre into EP territory. This could be the start of something special. But if it isn't, then her ebullience is unlikely ever to sound like anything less than that, and in the right proportions enduring ebullience can be a wonderful thing. A-