Undoubtedly one of the bigger incoming records among populations of the terminally online, Jane Remover has announced Census Designated, her sophomore LP out October 20 via deadAir. The first track off the record is the swirling and unsettlingly harmonious “Lips”, which led me to wanting to write a post about it immediately after listening.

I’ve seen Jane Remover’s music described as “digicore”, a label I’ve never found myself gravitating towards after the hyper-saturation of hyperpop as the early pandemic churned along. The fusion of 90s + 00s alt rock combined with cutesy internet forum-fodder digital sound effects and aggressively autotuned vocals, has never won me over. This new track though, despite a few rocky patches in the beginning, fully pulls me in by the second half, as Jane’s falsetto vocal melodies evoking Frank Ocean’s Blonde, with floating vocal harmonies stack together and fall apart in tandem to create a dramatic, dynamic song that feels like a sexy bop singer wandered into a Sweet Trip recording session. Eventually the track goes on the offensive, with a glitched out barrage of guitar and drums giving the hypnotic vocal refrains a trellis to climb upon, growing and reaching further to the sky, before everything eventually crumbles back down to earth.

This upcoming record likely wouldn’t have been on my radar at all if I hadn’t listened to “Lips”, so I suggest you do the same and get in the know. I know Jane’s first album Frailty ran the table of different sounds and influences across its length, so I’m very curious to see if she’ll continue to broaden horizons on this upcoming LP, or hone in on a mood or palette to really flesh out. Either way, Census Designated is out October 20 via deadAir.