Coat of Arma by Armcross

Nostalgia for the late 2000s and early 2010s infects every corner of post-pandemic art, memorializing this last gasp of massively popular nightclubs and radio pop megastars before social media sneakily assassinated mass culture. Rearranging the bones of Great Recession pop into a vehicle for a graphic exorcism, Armcross reminds us on their new album Coat of Arma that turning back the clock will by no means eliminate today’s stifling emotional repression. Desperate screams, emphatic rapping, and noisy production provide a landing strip for uncomfortably intense, pent-up negativity, showing us the immeasurable distance between this genuine catharsis and the stale yet thunderous pop music it emulates. Sure, the release felt at a club screaming along to a pop anthem exceeds that experienced by your typical 2020s digital hermit, but both of these pale in comparison with the emotional lightning rod provided by unencumbered, genuine creative expression, the proliferation of which could reverse this cultural cloistering.