In 2023, Trust Fund Ozu put out the ridiculously diverse and outstanding Faye Doubt, an album that mixed some of Faye’s most personal songwriting yet with an ever expanding palette of decadent noise, and it’s been in consistent rotation for us ever since.
Trust Fund Ozu’s distinct aesthetic, at this point, feels pretty established – Faye is on the bleeding edge of sound somewhere the modern emo of Nothing, Nowhere and the exploratory slush-core madness of Angel_Tech, Fire-Toolz, and Cocojoey. Yet despite an already great run, this new EP might be her best work yet. So what makes the brawling spirals of the Ozumaki EP so special in the context of her discography?
It’s that this time, it feels so effortless and personal. As you can read in the Bandcamp description for the EP, the songs were written around the time Faye’s father passed away, an extremely difficult situation for so many reasons. You can hear the poignancy in every track, even when things get silly as hell.
Opener “Father’s Day 2023” starts out both chilled and chilling, and it’s a level of pacing that sets a good example of the thoughtfulness behind the EP’s intent and execution. Faye isn’t relinquishing control or handing reigns over to grief, but she took a risk by letting it in, and it ends up being a huge part of the strength and lasting impact of Ozumaki. Things, of course, escalate, jetpack, and somersault all over the place, as they should with TFO, but even in it’s calculated moments of perfection, there’s more raw emotion on display than every before on tracks like “Livia Soprano” and the title track. Seriously, get a load of those hits towards the end of the former – somehow you’re getting hyper pop, post-hardcore, metal, and more all in a single cathartic spoonful.
Things really open up on the last couple tracks as well, classically titled “Obsession Devil… I froth at the mouth like a moth to the same door I stare at every day hoping it will never open but wanting to leave so bad” and “Idle Transfiguration…now i know you still loved me.” At first the vocoder situation might seem out of place next to the spacious drums, acoustic guitar, and the heartbreaking lyrics about a meatball sandwich, but fans familiar with her work probably won’t even notice, outside of noting it’s another well made jam comprised of grief, humor, and more.
“Idle Transfiguration…now i know you still loved me,” is definitely an energetic highlight for the album and certainly an effective closer, surging between glitching, hyper-melodic breakbeats and warm synth pads. They even slipped a vuvuzela in there, you know, as a treat! As a whole, the only complaint we have about Ozumaki is that it’s over way too soon, even though it comes to an epic, logical, and emotionally real conclusion. If you’re looking for something completely fresh, and maybe even healing for certain stages of grief, you’d be absolutely crazy to skip this EP. Here’s hoping we hear more in due time.
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