Blazing out to the world on Oct. 1, Sarah Tudzin returns for her third album under the name illuminati hotties. The Los Angeles based, tender, punk artist’s new album, “Let Me Do One More” is a welcome installment to her career. After plenty of engineering work for Weyes Blood, Porches and others, this work proves her strength behind the boards and on the guitar. This album is filled with versatile sounds. Even though the majority of songs are in the indie rock style, she explores country flares and heavier punk sounds such as screams.
From the first second of fuzz into the guitar hook of “Pool Hopping,” this song is full of energy and readies the listener for the 41-minute adventure ahead. Many songs have clever tongue-in-cheek lyrics. It feels like a summer night from high school, which the pool hopping can reflect. The energies continue into the accurately titled track, “MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA.” Both songs have catchy lyrics that highlight Tudzin’s fantastic writing. “MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA” has some especially clever lines and chants. Tudzin’s voice changes in this song, and others are greatly executed and match the lyrics well.
There are flares of folk found on the track, “u v v p.” This song features a sweet and somber spoken word by Big Thief’s Buck Meek. The sweet folk pairs perfectly with the subtle slide guitar. A song with a message to relive a past relationship with one last dance. You may never see this person again, but it ends on the right note. This melancholy feeling is conveyed so well — especially in the line, “Every time I hear a song / I think about you dancing / Every time I meet someone / I fall in love.”
The songs in full punk form are especially infectious, like “Joni: LA’s No. 1 Health Goth.” With envious, humorous lyrics, we hear the story of Joni, the song’s fictional goth, unfold. This song conveys particular party anxiety, seeing someone who seems cooler than you and always comparing yourself to them. The hooks on the punkier songs fit perfectly with her voice. “Knead” also has the perfect tender punk energy that slides with its catchy sounds. Both songs are great punk peaks on the album.
Nervousness from socialization can also be heard on “Threatening Each Other re: Capitalism” with the lyric, “I promise, I wanna do the party / To suck on air from people having fun.” On this song, the indie rock sounds slowed down, but still fit well. The song goes into the sadness of seeing “genius” capitalist ideas such as selling spit and cutting fruit in half even though it rots faster. The humor is still there even on sadder songs.
Her tender songwriting can be especially felt on the songs “Protector,” “Growth” and “The Sway.” “Protector” has some amazing guitar layers that increase in the background of the song, building with emotion into the drone that finishes it. “Growth” is a fantastic finisher that strips down to just acoustic guitar and vocals and leaves the listener with those beautiful, sad sounds that have laced many other songs. “The Sway” needs a special highlight. The twinkly guitar follows Tudzin’s lush lyrics about love. It tells the story of loving someone through life’s difficulties. The switching up of the chorus at the end of the song helps show the changing relationship.
illuminati hotties is a band to keep in your catalog for the fall ahead. The album feels like the closing of a door for the indie rock sounds of the 2010s; but, also, the opening of the door into the new indie-punk-rock ahead. Its mid internet flash photo style and clever hooks gives the same energy of indie rock classics. The newfound indie-rock of the 2020s is alive and fresh with energy that shines in Tudzin’s songs.
