After a great 2019 debut album and a song-of-the-year
standalone single in 2020, Pizzagirl (aka Liam Brown) returns with an
even better sophomore album. Softcore Mourn is full of mature hooks,
witticisms and quirks (“sorry if I made you mad because I said you looked like
Al Pacino”; “if you are what you eat, then you must eat some shit”) and an
overarching fascination with the digital now. It’s a record of grown-up modern pop,
which is endlessly hummable while straddling various genres (electro, acoustic
indie, rock ballad, and plenty more) with ease. There’s a definite 80s vibe
(‘Bullet Train’, et al), but also beach bum cool (‘Your Flat Earth
Brother’ – an ode to loved ones who are wrong), plucked guitar on the urban
melancholia of the intro to ‘By the Way’ (not a Red Hot Chili Peppers
cover), and nostalgia driven dance rock on the winning ‘Sugar Ray’. And that’s
just the tip of the ear worm iceberg.