Nullmatrix, like her previous releases, is Strawberry Hospital’s callback to the Myspace scene sound, something that will send elder emos reeling back to 2008 and the days of crabcore, rawr and racoon tails.

(It’s okay, you don’t have to admit out loud that you miss it.)

This isn’t to say it’s a lighthearted work. The songs on Nullmatrix alternate between uplifting ethereality and violent, neurotic breakdowns, all silked over by lyrics run through a vocaloid to the point of indecipherability. Yet, that indecipherability turns the focus less on what is being said, and more into the raw emotion being conveyed. Whether flying through digital skies or raging into an abyss, the result is the same: intense feeling, a racing immediacy that demands your engagement.

It shines out through her use of contrast, often gliding through a serene passage before shattering it to pieces with a rapid breakdown—and vice versa, calming the rages with moments of breathless peace. The effect blends each track into the next, creating a seamless 12-minute listen. The lyrics throughout the EP narrate a vulnerable, deeply personal struggle with identity and meaning, such as in “Griefseed” with lines like: “Banished to non-existence / dying to feel alive again” and in “Rhythm 0” with “Is this who I am or only what I wish to be?”

Yet the outro track “Impuremelody” offers a release, if not resolution. Featuring spoken word imagery about sinking peacefully into the ocean not in death, but as a cleansing act, the gentle sonic accompaniment feels like being embraced by the water, and floating under the moon. Like coming down after an intense emotional episode, we leave with what feels like a return to stasis, to a place if not of happiness, then one that suggests it’s eventually possible.

So while Nullmatrix is fun for its Myspace-era sound, it stands on its own as a serious emotional dissection from an artist whose skill grows with each new release.

Photo Credit: Strawberry Hospital / Bandcamp