Sacha Mullin - 'Joy'

Across more than two decades, Chicago vocalist Sacha Mullin has treated each release as its own creative environment, moving between experimental rock, jazz, art-pop and highly arranged vocal music. 'Social Touch', his fourth solo album, continues that pattern by making perhaps his most direct move towards pop yet.

Produced by William Parker Wood, the record follows 2023's 'Casino Wilderness Period' but deliberately avoids repeating its approach. Where that album emerged from a more experimental setting, 'Social Touch' places his unmistakably expressive voice inside a brighter, more immediate framework.

The important thing is that accessibility hasn't flattened the personality out of the music, as lead single 'Hypocenter' introduces the new direction with a sense of propulsion, bringing returning collaborator Emily Bindiger into the fold and allowing his vocal theatricality to meet a more streamlined pop instinct.

But what makes 'Social Touch' especially interesting is the sense that he's not simplifying his music so much as changing the frame around it. His earlier records repeatedly reconsidered how songwriting, arrangement and vocal performance could interact, and this album appears to continue that process by asking what happens when those instincts are pushed towards immediacy rather than mere abstraction.

The result is pure pop, certainly. But it's pop music approached by an artist who has spent years learning how to avoid repeating himself.

It's an approach makes 'Social Touch' feel more like another experiment than anything else. Only this time, the hooks are allowed to stand right at the front, bringing a newfound immediacy to his eclectic appeal to date.