TKOH - FIRE ISLAND PINING (SEASON ONE)
TKOH’s electric EP Fire Island Pining (Season One) is an epic dream sequence of dance-pop and modern electro-pop, making this year’s pride month just that much more complete.
Pride month just wouldn’t be complete without catching TKOH’s electric EP Fire Island Pining (Season One). That the title says “Season One” hints that there’s more raunchy music to come (and let’s be real, a TV series would be pretty amazing too). The EP is an epic dream sequence of dance-pop and modern electro-pop, ideally played full-blast at a party or club. Written and recorded in Utah during quarantine, TKOH describes the EP as “the fantasy I never got to have, since last year was supposed to be my Hot Gay Summer.” Fire Island Pining perfectly encapsulates the ripe, frenetic energy of this moment as people in many places are finally able to party and live their best lives post-quarantine.
Each song is a bop in its own right. Walking the margins of perception and reality, ‘DTF (Download the Fantasy)’ is a fiery house pop track that welcomes us to “the roaring twenties”. In the kinky nu-disco pop anthem ‘You & Your Man’, TKOH coyly muses over what it'd be like to be in the middle of a threesome. ‘Tan Lines’ presents as that quintessential summer party song, full of sun and fun, but with an ominous message: consume or be consumed. 80’s stadium rock meets hyperpop (with a healthy dose of psychedelics) in ‘Blondes Have More Fun,’ exploring the (particularly queer) tradition of going blonde during a mental breakdown, one-part declaration of empowerment, one-part desperate cry for help. Finally, in ‘To be continued…’ orchestral pop swells into the EP’s closing statement (with the promise of a sequel): “If you wanna be my lover, it doesn’t have to be forever. When it’s over it’ll be a bummer, but we’ll always have this summer.”
What makes Fire Island Pining (Season One) compelling is that it can be enjoyed as fun summer party music, but if listened to closely, there’s a deeper and darker commentary about gay life and party culture. It highlights the temporality of romance and the party lifestyle (treating the summer as a finite, even mythic, period of time, where romance dies as the season wanes). Even the most upbeat song, ‘Blondes Have More Fun’, underscores the mental health crisis in the gay community, where the only thing keeping people from full-blown breakdown is a little bit of hair dye. And while ‘Tan Lines’ sounds like another fun summer anthem, the undertones are more sinister, hinting that all is fair in love and war. Each song holds its own, but the EP really shines when played all the way through. TKOH’s manic dreamscape Fire Island Pining (Season One) cements him as an artist not to be underestimated.
Brandon Thabo
★★★★☆