AUDREY NUNA‘s armor is on, though she’s actually rather unguarded. The 25-year-old New Jersey-based musician, who aims to use fashion as a defense mechanism, has crafted a bionic hero persona for herself surrounding her anticipated sophomore studio LP, TRENCH, on which she looks deeper into her innate duality. Split into two disks entitled “SOFT SKIN” and “HARD FEELINGS,” the 16-track offering closes out an accomplished year for NUNA and finds her in her typical transcendental zone – more reflective and raw than ever before.
She told Hypebeast more about this concept in an interview back in July, noting that she wanted to “illustrate a yearning and desire to stay soft through the underbelly of adolescence while dealing with all of the dark things that happen that can harden you as a person.”
“SOFT SKIN” keeps it light with its syrupy sonics – seen on the pre-release singles “Jokes On Me,” “Suckin Up” and “Mine” – contrasting with the more existential energy evident on “HARD FEELINGS,” well exemplified on 2023 track “Locket” and the album’s only collaborative cut, “Starving” with Teezo Touchdown.
Other high points include “SOFT SKIN”‘s closer “Baby OG” (which arrives with an accompanying music video as well) and vulnerable “What About Me” and “2High” on “HARD FEELINGS.”
“There’s a time when growing up feels romantic and innocent, and a liquid breakfast was very much that. This project is rooted in much darker undertones both sonically and conceptually,” she said at the time of the interview. TRENCH arrives over three years after a liquid breakfast‘s 2021 release.
SIDE A: SOFT SKIN
Nothing Feels the Same
Me & My Baby
Suckin Up
Mine
Ca$h
Jokes On Me
Pajamas
Baby OGSIDE B: HARD FEELINGS
Dance Dance Dance
Doggie Pound
1-Way
Locket
Starving
What About Me?
Jitterbug
2High
Stream TRENCH – out everywhere now.
