Vienna based pop artist Joe Traxler has a special sense of style. He’s got a suaveness to his music, a unique swagger that makes each song stand out for being delectably melodic and gorgeously groovy from back to front. With a richly modern brand of indie pop that doesn’t for a moment leave you lulled, he’s released ‘Lifelines’. Traxler feels like a modern day BeeGees, funky, psychedelic, but altogether anchored in pop sensibilities that makes the entire record just a flurry of increasingly catchy and infectious singles.
His debut EP is a statement record, the kind that spans an artist really breaking into the mainstream by really just outpouring everything he feels and has experienced. The record adresses coming into adulthood with an honest and undiluted insight into Joe’s psyche. Spanning across a spectrum of interpersonal relationships, privilege, mental health and instant gratification, he artfully navigates the topics that a 20 something year old in the modern era confronts. But it’s in his own unique and endearing production style that you’re drawn to Traxler. Guitar driven, but also basked with synths and a host o other modern production sheens, Lifelines feels like an ever evolving record that has moments on moments to fall in love with.
There’s the more poppy and directly infectious pieces like the record’s opener ‘Forget How To Speak’. Then you also have the slightly more subtle and smooth pieces like ‘Lifeline’ and ‘Faded’. Combining a psychedelic allure with the boisterousness and eccentricity of a modern electronic record, ‘Lifelines’ is ever so enjoyable from the get go.