The World is Not Good Enough is an endearing solo debut from Sean Solomon

The slow-burning deceptions sold and the human impulse to self-question via personal accounts of car collisions on Sunset Boulevard, drug-induced psychosis and the clear-lens of sobriety - transformative turbulence that Solomon roots in the essence of existence and the invariable prompts for creativity.

Issuing from LA’s lo-fi scene, the San Fernando Valley-raised musician, animator and erstwhile lead of Sub Pop-rostered Moaning, interprets the genesis of his debut LP as a form of self-therapy - an act of off ramping from the world of cynical corporate pressures and interests, ultimately seeking refuge in “art in its purest form”, in Solomon’s own words. Having returned to animation as a primary creative outlet following his former band’s split, crafting videos for acts such as Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Run The Jewels and Odd Future, The World is Not Good Enough grew serendipitously out of a series of demos, finding form and purpose without any such forced intention.

There is an at once bucolic tenderness and world weariness wrapped up in its eight-track duration, optimism emanates from subjects spanning episodes of mental health decline and subsequent hospitalisation (“Black Hole”), placing personal struggles in the context of the collective human experience rather than centered solely on the self. Solomon's tentative acoustic patter and ambling, achingly volatile vocals neither mask nor subvert themes that, on paper, should emerge spikey or dour, but in practice synchronize in a delicately stitched life-affirming sum of its parts. “Black Hole” contends with the reality of mental health struggles in a stark but refreshingly open-minded stance that is the epitome of the record’s inquisitively self-accepting angle: “I have a mental disorder / Or maybe I’m just human”.

“Finish Line” yearns under a crush of plush, pastorally punctuated strings and teetering trumpet tectonics, rendered with a ricocheting richness that hints, in part, at Beirut's multi-layered shuffling soundscapes. Hopes and dreams soar and turn brittle when colliding with reality in the atmosphere of “Shooting Star”, plaid-clad sonics that scope Solomon’s vocals, tracking off-grid into a suburban longing for escape: “Neon signs brighter than the stars / Mini malls and meth heads / She never wants to see this town again”. “Overdose” takes a wide-angle commentary on society’s self-destructive urges and almost karmic wish-fulfillment; a song born out of the pandemic but retaining relevancy half a decade later.

With Daniel Johnston’s DIY blueprint and Elliot Smith as vectors of influence, The World is Not Good Enough leans into a pared down but philosophically impactful lens on self and society that carries the torch for outsider indie rock. The former’s vivid intersection of visual art and music as mediums stands as an unmistakable pillar of inspiration, Solomon adding his own voice via confessional lucidity and an all-embracing scale, both sonically and lyrically – an endearing, lo-fi filtered record not limited in what it has to say.