CD of The Week

Illuminati Hotties - POWER (Snack Shack Tracks / Hopeless)

A lot has happened in Sarah Tudzin's life since the last Illuminati Hotties record. She got married and was part of the whirlwind of success her friends in boygenius achieved last year, having co-produced and engineered their beloved album the record and toured with them as an opener as well. But back in 2020, her mother passed away as she was in the midst of releasing the Free I.H. mixtape, which was followed by Let Me Do One More in 2021. However, Tudzin wasn't ready to fully grapple with the loss until writing for the newest I-Hotties record. She takes all those experiences and pours them into POWER.

The album opens with “Can’t Be Still,” a grooving, whistling ode to restlessness and being a workaholic, where Tudzin notes that “I triple book my Saturdays." Along the same thematic lines is “Didn't,” featuring a contribution from YouTuber and singer-songwriter Cavetown. It’s a song about shirking your responsibilities and coming to terms with being OK just not doing a thing.

The intense “I Would Like, Still Love You” is a Tegan and Sara-esque indie rock declaration of devotion to her new wife Maddie Ross, claiming that even “if you told all of our friends that I hated them/I would like, still love you.” The chugging “Falling In Love With Somebody Better” is another love song, but with the kicker that it’s being sung to her late mother about Ross, noting, “I wish that you had met her.” The breezy, jangling “Sleeping In” is another charming love song, where Tudzin documents the ways her life has changed, such as, “I don’t like laying around/but you like sleeping in/so I like sleeping in now.”

 “What's the Fuzz” cranks things up appropriately with Tudzkin’s pal Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz guesting on guitars and backing vocals. “Throw (Life Raft)” is an immaculate indie pop rocker and the big power chords of “The L” are among the other highlights of POWER. And the bedroom pop title track was written as a highly personal memorial to missing her mother in her life.

Everything sounds great, as you'd expect from a Grammy-nominated mixer and studio rat, though the album mostly stays in the same lane. POWER lacks the next-level energy of some of the best Illuminati Hotties singles from the past, staying in a slightly mellower vibe throughout most of the record. But that’s appropriate considering the intimate nature of the subjects Tudzin tackles here.

Illuminati Hotties play the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia on October 17th.
Review by Joey O.