The rising pains of late adolescence will be conflicting. Do you do not forget that deep craving for affordable thrills and whole autonomy? For the liberty to fall flat in your face? That is what Leaving Residence means to FearDorian: rising up so rapidly you overlook you’re additionally mourning your lack of innocence. “It’s Leaving Residence within the sense of the way you had been raised, the routines you’re used to, your mentality,” he mentioned in a latest interview. “I’m breaking away from these issues and changing into my very own particular person.” The 18-year-old rapper-producer has made a variety of strikes previously yr: a self-titled debut, a jubilant full-length with Polo Perks and AyooLii, a low-key EP with By Storm’s RiTchie. He’s additionally hung out away from his hometown of Atlanta, performing in New York bars and Milwaukee golf equipment, wandering in Dublin and driving round London. The result’s his second solo album, Leaving Residence, which recounts angst and triumph by claustrophobic beats and diaristic deadpan. After years of turning obscure samples into ear sweet for different rappers, FearDorian crafts one thing extra insular to make sense of his personal development.
If the songwriting makes one factor clear, it’s that Dorian remains to be settling into his pores and skin. Each boastful step ahead is offset by future uncertainty. On “Gotta Be,” as his sandpaper melody passes by wistful streams of synthesizer, FearDorian fixates on mortality. If he weren’t lower off by Klein’s processed vocals, the lilt on the finish of his verse might’ve rendered the monitor a fragile, sullen lullaby: “This shit get so actual, I be fightin’ for my life … I completed fucked up so many instances tryna get it proper.” Like every teenager would, he relishes getting paid to go abroad and see his face on flyers. On “I.V.,” he pokes enjoyable on the Rick Owens kicks he’s shopping for for his sister. However he can’t assist however probe beneath this shiny exterior. In an ode to Earl Sweatshirt in a while, Dorian reprises a pattern from Ft of Clay and reworks the desolate chorus from “Shattered Desires”: “They ain’t say I might go away/They ain’t say I used to be bleeding,” he spits over Jersey membership percussion. His vulnerability is on the forefront, however he’s by no means sounded this assured as a rapper earlier than.
If it weren’t for the pulsating, head-knocking rhythms, Leaving Residence would really feel significantly extra forlorn. The report begins out fairly brightly: “In Flip For?” kicks it off with elastic 808s over lambent dream pop, and the one-two punch of “Aspen” and “Each Time” appears like hitting a slipstream on Mario Kart. These lighthearted textures mirror the childlike marvel of visiting landmarks you’d solely seen on TV rising up; regardless of Dorian’s inside tug-of-war, he’s attempting to benefit from the second. When that giddy feeling fades, a number of the grimiest manufacturing in his catalog rises to the highest: The thumping kick drums of “Flooring Tom” flip a post-punk loop right into a speaker knocker, “Las Vegas” flips a dreamy Cocteau Twins staple into one thing sludgy, and standouts “I.V.” and “Gotta Be” are equal elements bleak and intoxicating.
At FearDorian’s Brooklyn listening occasion the evening of Leaving Residence’s launch, I stood behind the group, watching because the faces featured on the report joined him onstage: quinn, Polo Perks, Klein, RiTchie. In a stay setting, it doesn’t sound like music by a child who’s at odds with himself; Dorian is raucous and exuberant. He’s hitting Lil Uzi eyerolls and spitting each bar, even diving into outstretched arms when Polo grabs a mic for “Flooring Tom.” On report, “Not Simply But” with RiTchie is chilling—the kind of music you nod alongside to screw-faced in solitude—however pouring from the audio system, it appears like one thing you could possibly dance to. Even when Dorian’s lyrics mourn a failed relationship, the power within the room is rejoiceful. The contrasts breathe life into Leaving Residence: pleasure within the face of dread, optimism shielded by remorse, shadows looming over greener pastures. That is what it’s wish to grapple with maturity.