Release Date: April 14, 2023
Genre: Pop Punk, Pop Rock
Label: Rude Records Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Eli Hirsh (ex-Superhighway) is better known musically as Eli Hurts. He made a tremendous splash with the release of his debut EP, Future Accountants of America, Unite, in October 2020. Fast forward to the present, Eli has returned to the spotlight with his immaculate ten-track debut album, Ouch, Eli Hurts, which will release on April 14, 2023, via Rude Records. Ouch, Eli Hurts was a co-produced project by Eli and fellow music producer Sam Pura, who is known for his work with The Story So Far, Elder Brother, and Hundredth, to name a select few. “Ever since I was a kid I wanted to make this record. It just had to happen. I think it’s sick. It’s loud, it’s over the top. The record is about feeling alone, like the world is falling apart, and heartbreak. I had so much fucking fun making it! Enjoy. Or don’t," Eli exclaims.
Ouch, Eli Hurts begins with the infectious single "Hot Shit," which was written in the desert between Eli and his friend Katie. It details the angry side of when someone leaves you. Sonically, the track is an ode to electronic emo artists like Owl City. As a whole, Ouch, Eli Hurts is an ode to emo music. On the album, you have full-blown electronic tracks, full-blown pop tracks, full-blown pop-punk numbers, and some songs that meld all the sounds together. You even have the gigantic acoustic, piano ballad blended track, "Self-Destruct." As "Self-Destruct" continues to play out, it features an immensely powerful vocal display by Eli, like no other, on the entirety of the record. Odes to the psychedelic rock band MGMT are apparent on the song "Upside Down From Here," and without a doubt, the album's ninth track sees some influence from Fall Out Boy with the lengthy title, "I Hate Me (I Don't Anymore But I Did When I Wrote This Song). The final track on the album is yet another full of infectious melodies and feels like an All Time Low track. "Them" features Love Fame Tragedy, which might be better known to some as the solo project of The Wombats' frontman Matthew Murphy.
Ouch, Eli Hurts is a soulful and heartfelt collection of ten tracks about being alone, heartbreak, and feeling like the world is falling apart. Ouch, Eli Hurts showcases the singer-songwriter's powerful voice and raw emotional intensity by blending an abundant of genres that range from everywhere, like alternative, pop, punk, emo, and synth styles of music. It draws heavily from his influences of artists and bands like My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, 100 Gecs, Steven Sondheim, Lil Peep, Weezer, and Smashing Pumpkins, to list just a few of Eli's many influences that formed the deep roots of his debut album. Overall, Ouch, Eli Hurts is an unforgettable debut album from Eli Hurt. With Eli's powerful, poppy, and ever-emotive vocals, relatable lyrics, and skillful instrumentation across its impeccable ten tracks, it's a compelling listening experience that is sure to resonate with fans of pop, pop punk, and emo music of all kinds. It's one tremendously magical emo mess in all of the right ways. Hurt has established himself as a rising talent to watch in the emo scene, and his debut album is just the beginning of a very promising and blossoming musical career.
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