Joe Ziffer

The second album from Adelaide’s Joe Ziffer slips further into the suds of psych-pop. Like his 2023 debut, the record revels in a murkiness, but this there’s a connective tissue that runs through the ripples of Soap Scum, something that makes it feel like one long quivering trip. Ziffer seeks out the dark corners and quiet cul-de-sacs of the mind on the new record, haunting the haze that halos the street lights during the clammy humidity of early spring. Numbness, wasted hours, and dashed dreams are at the forefront of the new album, turning Ziffer’s murky sonics into a stew for self-reflection, a chipped tin plate mirror that reflects our doubts back in funhouse colors.

From the strange drift of opener “Duplicate Me,” to the wind-warped interludes that tie the record together, Ziffer adds an unsettling aura to Soap Scum that’s only really abated after the title track as it slips out of the Vaseline wobble of “Down The Drain.” There’s hope in the second half of the record, a sun behind the clouds that cover the first half, and as the listener is ushered out the door, the hero’s journey seems on the upswing. The record is hard to parse apart, though, better served as a complete document of desperation, desire, and ultimately a new dawn.

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