Photo by Adam Powell

It’s been an ugly, exhausting year as both a music listener and amateur music writer despite the favs touting it as It’s A Beautiful Place. We are living in a new norm of being over-bombarded with fresh sounds in a never-ending weekly churn, so much to the point that about a fifth of the total album reviews this year came from fourth quarter releases alone. Just when you think the initial album cycle has wrapped up — surprise! Deluxe edition, mothers fuckers, or some EP addendum to further promote it for money-making reasons like a tour kickoff, list season campaigning, or just the necessary evil in doing your most as an artist and label to make sure your music is staying in front of listeners months later when other “content” has since crowded the field.

In 2025, Rachel Brown understood the game and embraced this fully to their advantage as a starving artist by parlaying their 24/7 postingcontent habits into an influencer gig with Stereogum. It wouldn’t surprise me if their casual, conversational videos interviews and wellness check with the likes of Hayley Williams, MJ Lenderman, and Denzel Curry see more clicks and engagement than the articulated written words the site’s formal music critics endlessly grind through. But it was an opportunity nonetheless to grow their own social media brand, which in turn grew their band’s own brand, and now that they have the greater masses’ attention, we’re now ready for the obligatory three-song EP counterpart phase, simply dubbed It’s Beautiful, to punctuate what came before it.

For those who’ve got love for It’s A Beautiful Place on their year-end lists, hearing original album tracks “Born 2” and “Nights In Armor” more closer to their original form of creative conception (and retitled as “Born 4” and “Nights In Armor (FKA Love Song)” offers an interesting insight into the songs’ genesis, but it’s the 10-minute-plus centripetal force of a highlight that is “Playing Classics”, now as “Driving Classics, Playing Cars”, that freaks out hard on the uncanny experimental art-pop free-wheeling of Brown and Nate Amos. Sped up with added car effects for the LOLs, think of the original as a song conceived from BRAT summer’s energy while its redux backs it up a bit to Charli’s Vroom Vroom era where touches of hyperpop paradise have this one burning rubber on the way out of 2025’s door. Whereas a lot of new music doubles as disposable content nowadays, the Brooklyn duo make their lengthy detour well worth your time, and a sensory-popping ride at that to give meaning to the hustle.

Water From Your Eyes’ It’s Beautiful is available now on Matador Records.