Rating: 3/5 stars

What actually is hyperpop? The dynamic genre has been the subject of debate amongst both middle-aged music critics and teenagers in TikTok comments. Some say it is the future of pop; some say it died with SOPHIE (“PRODUCT”). Then there is Frost Children (“SPIRAL”), the sibling duo that looks like 100 gecs (“10,000 gecs”), sounds like 100 gecs and even come from the same city as them, but are in fact different people. They released their second full-length album, “SPEED RUN,” on April 14, which combines the bubbly club fizzlers like that of the hyperpop origin PC Music collective with the raw emo whining that defines the new wave of hyperpop.

Angel and Lulu Prost accurately describe their sound as a revival of the decade-old “indie sleaze” era, the post-Recession movement of party-minded indietronica. But on “SPEED RUN,” Frost Children reinterpret indie sleaze in the post-pandemic era with a sprinkle of weird textures and ironic lyrics. 

Much like their hyperpop colleagues, there is a layer of angst and awkwardness on “SPEED RUN” that counters the shiny club hooks, like the partying is some kind of cope. Take lead single “FLATLINE” for instance, which starts off with a raving bass and Lulu Prost’s falsetto dreaming about a girl she met. The track builds into a rager with Prost screaming, “Cut the s***, are you f***ing with me/Step away, I can feel your disease.”

“LET IT BE” featuring voice-scratched rapper EXUM (“27 Planets”) is by far the best track off the album. Angel Prost raps about a trip to Belgium with quirkily rhymes “welcome” with “arrondissement.” The bass pounces like wobbly tires and a distorted synth recalls the legacy of hyperpop pioneer SOPHIE. Lulu Prost’s vocals line up into a chorus proclaiming “Ego Clarissimi,” which translates to “I am very famous” in Latin. The bridge includes a heavily filtered vocoder that sounds like wind chimes falling through an air vent. The track as a whole combines the playfulness of garage with the intensity of digicore. 

The one outlier to the album’s consistent streak of anxiety bangers is “WONDERLAND,” featuring New York rapper Blaketheman1000 (“Magician”) and bedroom-pop’s May Rio (“Aspartame”). “WONDERLAND” takes a break from the party and instead indulges in a chill pill, like that of Magdalena Bay (“mini mix vol. 3”) and Clairo (“Sling”). Lulu Prost utters chintzy Alice in Wonderland puns that sound like they could be sarcastic for the first minute until you realize this is Frost Children trying to be accessible. 

Frost Children may seem derivative at first glance, which is fair because they are. The course of the album they try to revive the glory days of indie dance bangers with hyperpop updates. However, both the model and the prototype seem like they are trying too hard. Give it a listen if you are a hyperpop purist and want to relive mediocre nostalgia from a couple years ago. Still, “SPEED RUN” is full of bangers. Frost Children could develop their sound into something more exciting and original with future collaborations, but for now we have the inklings of a duo that could become the future leaders of an already futuristic genre.

Image from Frost Children via YouTube