Rumspringa - ear

Every year, it seems like a “weird” album grabs me, out of the blue and inexplicably. They are usually out of my comfort zone or defy genre classification altogether. The artist is unknown to me, and I generally don’t dig too deep into bios or previous releases. For better or worse, I mostly forget about the artist before too long or I never get around to their next output. It was Guerilla Toss a couple years ago, and Superorganism a few years before that. Anyway, Rumspringa by the group, ear, is that for me in 2026. As soon as I put on the first track, I let out a surprised little “whoa” and went on a brief journey from there. Immediately, I wished I was listening to it in another situation, like late at night with the lights low, but then immediately after that, I decided there wasn’t a context where this wouldn’t catch me. This is one of those which defies any genre. I would have said electronic at first, but there is a surprising amount of trip hop and acoustic guitar to push it in other directions. The single, which had been the only notes I’d heard beforehand, slid in seamlessly with the rest of the record. Fantastic, short, album, easily  consumable and repeatable, and one which I will revisit in December, shrug, and conclude it’s one of my highlights of the year, even if I can’t say for sure what it is.