Worthitpurchase – Worthitpurchase

Los Angeles duo Worthitpurchase have released their self-titled third album.

The longrunning collaboration between Omar Akrouche & Nicole Rowe, the band began in 2019 in San Francisco as a vehicle for the two to finish each other’s songs. The duo were staff engineers at beloved Bay Area recording studio, Tiny Telephone, where an eclectic array of gear provided the perfect conditions for their first two records to form through nocturnal sessions fueled by moments of curiosity, improvisation and spontaneity. They still operate in a similarly collaborative, hodgepodge spirit—but this is the first time they’ve consciously curated a collection of songs over several years. It’s also their first record since expanding Worthitpurchase into a live act, whose ever-evolving, one-off shows have featured as many as six players.

With Worthitpurchase, the Los Angeles duo chronicles the surreal feeling of incongruence towards one’s surroundings, filtered through ambiguous yet naturalistic vignettes and electronic indie-rock informed by their own early-internet nostalgia. Marked by a vivid stream of consciousness, tactile guitars, eccentric breakbeats and samples, and touching vocal harmonies, Worthitpurchase is neither fearful, nor pessimistic—instead mining these weird times for the beauty that remains. Multi-instrumentalists, songwriters, and producers Akrouche and Rowe tap into a deep well of love for and trust in each other and their collaborators, as well as artistic generosity—each confounding electronic bloop and detailed memory transformed into something totally new and subtly profound.

The album includes the previously released singles “Something New”, “Sideways” and “Lakeshore.”

Citing influences like the offbeat ‘90s rock of Beck and the icy electronics of Lali Puna, Worthitpurchase’s ambient-electro guitar-pop, or self-described “cyber-folk,” channels a very specific era of digital nostalgia

Suburban surrealism, new perspectives on old memories, and attempts to relate to complex places are central motifs on this LP. “Big Canada” is about Rowe’s recent visit to her hometown, which transformed into an unrecognizable tourist trap and made her feel like a stranger, and “Ancient Suburb” is a vision of idyllic Midwestern domesticity. “Lakeshore” is another product of wistful imagination—this time, a portal into the angsty lore of American summer camp—while “Something New” likens L.A. to a “dodecahedron,” an apt summation of the bewildering yet awe-inspiring behemoth.

These days, it’s nearly impossible to confront adulthood without also confronting the illusion of the American dream. “I think a lot of my lyrics have to do with ‘why is being an adult this way?’ and ‘we were promised flying cars, but it’s not actually like that,’” Rowe says. “Everybody’s just suffering together, and we’re not really acknowledging it.” But what Worthitpurchase also posits with their self-titled album is that every fleeting moment still drips with so much poetry and bliss, or as the silly meme adage goes: “There are cathedrals everywhere for those with the eyes to see.” Metropolises and the internet continue to make less sense, but both still gasp with life, and Worthitpurchase continues to scavenge for meaningful sources of serotonin. And lucky for listeners, their music—teeming with otherworldly electronic transmissions, twinkly, slightly out-of-tune guitar, and amusing, heart-on-sleeve epigrams—doesn’t require any proverbial slop sorting. It’s pure ecstasy. It’s unadulterated Californian beauty. It’s two friends wanting more. It’s Worthitpurchase.

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