It’s been a busy year for poppy tears. Despite remaining relatively under the radar, poppy has worked extensively with notable artists, including lil happy lil sad, Lil Lotus, familypet, 9TAILS, and more. The Stockholm based musician has been consistently releasing powerfully lush tracks for years. The multi-faceted artist just debuted his third project of 2018, Behind Screens — and it’s exactly what you need right now. The album is vulnerable, dreamy, and displays great versatility and willingness to push the boundaries of experimentation.
“It’s All Yours” with Angel of Tears is a delicate prayer, featuring soft, understated productions. poppy tears’ vocals alone are enough to have the listener holding back tears, but the instrumentation, layered with Angel of Tears soothing vocals, ensure a visceral blow to the gut. “I Don’t Really Wana Change Rn” is a confession, a slightly more angsty track concerning self-deception. poppy tears admits that if his lifestyle, habits and overwhelming death-drive doesn’t let up soon, he will lose it all. It’s the inner monologue of an addicted mind, with the desire and the inability to change in the wake of destruction being common threads throughout the album as a whole.
“Empty Hands” with Angel of Tears and familypet has harmonious vocals that send a chill down the listeners spine, providing a truly intoxicating collaboration. A familypet feature is also quite notable, due to the fact the New York duo rarely collaborate with others. With “Rewind,” the fourth track of Behind Screens, the intensity is cut. Again, the productions are careful and thoughtful, but with a lighter feel, letting the listener breathe after the dramatic introduction to the album. Nonetheless, the lyrics are still highly emotionally charged, which should be expected from a poppy tears project.
“Healthy Relief” with 9TAILS is an instant hit. 9TAILS’ high-energy vocals contrast well with poppy tears’ somber sound. “They Never Even Asked” is an indie-infused track that carries over the same sigh of relief provided in “Rewind.” The track explores the win/lose, try/fail process of change, and the ever sliding scale of optimism and pessimism. poppy sings, “I’ve had it, I’ve done my run/ time for change now, a new system.” “They never even asked” provides a glimmering hope that appeared all but lost in the first half of Behind Screens.
“Waste Time Wasted” with 4ever Falling, sends us into the depths once again: “I waste time, wasted/ two hands shaking/ the pain is blatant, can I contain it?” On a personal note, “Waste Time Wasted” is perhaps my favorite track on the album. I can see my days passing by me at a rapid pace, wake, chase a fix, sleep, repeat. poppy tears conveys this cumbersome cycle with aching accuracy. The knowledge of wasting one’s time, as you watch your passions, your talents decay at the bottom of another bottle, is a feeling I hope you never have the misfortune of meeting. 4ever Falling’s powerful vocals carry through the outro, as the track fades away as delicately as it emerged.
“I Can’t Find Happiness for Long” features poppy’s close collaborator Lil Happy Lil Sad, as they outline the empty routine and the mundanity of addiction. “It’s hard to have a personality underneath the pain.” The emotional, spiritual and physical toll taken on an individual when their favorite poison becomes a nagging necessity.
The remaining five tracks of Behind Screens mirrors the first half. The cadences of prayer, hope and confession are continued and they are equally as dreamy, longing and emotional as the rest of the project. The album as a whole is wistful, contemplative, and heartbreakingly beautiful. The productions provided by poppy tears are exceptional, and truly make this project a work of art (not to mention the expertly cultivated collaborations included in the project). Each track could shine in it’s own article, but Behind Screens is better experienced than written about. Behind Screens will leave the listener in a somber trance, a place where dreams and nightmares meet, but it is worth being overcome by.