product - Your Childhood Belongs To Us

Released: July 19

Your Childhood Belongs to Us has a through-line of this sense of whimsy and charming lo-fi aesthetic across the whole album. Nothing feels extremely polished or overdone or overproduced. It has a certain unrefined vibe to it that works very well for pretty much the entire album. There are a few moments here and there that feel kind of disorienting, but in the larger context of the album they add a nice little extra layer of depth to an album that feels very retro-pop oriented with a splash of indie rock quality. 

Starting out, the first track "rock" takes a relaxed approach with most chill and spacey synths surrounding a beat that I have to say sounds quite early 90's electronica, similar to something you might hear on a track from the Crystal Method or even Moby back in the day. So this sets a good tone to start out, giving the impression that a lot of product's inspiration comes from these classic electronica tracks (yes, they're about 30 years old now and we can cry about the passage of time later). The next few tracks largely stay in this realm but have an added vibe of something a bit more recent. If I had to describe it, it's something kind of like the vibe given off by The Postal Service circa 2003 with that retro-pop influence still standing out predominately. 

Product does some rather interesting little things in some of these tracks. Like on "dot mid" right at the end, we get this around record scratch type of effect that moves from side to side each time it hits. The first time I heard it, I was completely thrown off by how jarring it was. After hearing it again, I found it pretty interesting and novel, but still kind of unexpected even though I knew it was coming. Most of the tracks utilize their charm to great effect but or or two fall a bit flat in terms of sound choices and arrangement. But overall, the album mostly delivers on this weird sense of whimsical nostalgia that reminds me of toy synthesizers and pawn shop purchased Casio keyboards.