Upbeat yet poignant, cheeky yet vulnerable, refreshing yet retro, Wallice’s debut album, The Jester, is well-balanced and cool as hell. Released on 11/15 from Daily Hit (The 1975, Jack Anontoff, The Japanese House), The Jester walks the line between sardonic wit and heartfelt confession with a breezy, sun-drenched indie sound.
Each song on The Jester moves on its own, ranging from dancey electronic beats to low-key morose melodies, with grunge and bedroom pop bangers in between. Her dreamy voice—a comforting croon that rests between honey and grit—has a DIY charm polished up to show us she knows what she’s doing. Her lyrics carry us through a whimsical world full of dark stories and bright bops about longing to be uniquely seen, heard, understood, and loved in this cold, chaotic world.
The opening song, cleverly entitled “The Opener,” plays like a self-aware, intimate walk with Wallice as she details the dismissive life of an LA opener in a world of headliners and main characters. As sad as it sounds on the surface, this song is an ode to her dedication and authenticity as an artist searching for her audience. Her unwavering honesty is the underlying theme across the entire album.
Wallice is a tour de force songwriter. Lines like “time moves fast; I wonder why? Is it because we’re faded” in “Boring,” an early aughts anthem in the middle of the album about leaving the one you love and the joy of coming back, opens listeners up to a world where the deepness of love can exist in a shallow world. Also, it’s a great track to share with your long-distance love. Then, following the upbeat Boring, the distorted, grunge grinder, “Sickness,” where Wallice shows her longing soul with lines like “Sick in love in a million ways, this is not what I had planned. ‘Cause I’m stuck wasting all my days waiting for the touch of your hand.” Powerful, poetic, and poppy—exactly what you’d expect from a master songwriter like Wallice.
Somewhere between familiar and fresh, The Jester is a dream come true for indie lovers and the perfect album for singing in the mirror in your childhood room over the holidays, followed by the subsequent escape back to the pains of adulthood. For Wallice and her fans, this debut couldn’t come soon enough. I suggest you pop in your headphones, lay in the winter sun like a cat, and get ready to feel for the first time again.
The Jester is out now.
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