I know there’s something left for you sees dynastic go to new heights

Take “x2 dose,” for example, the album's emotional centerpiece and an acute representation of dynastic’s current musical mindset. The song combines digital production with metalcore drum patterns, punchy guitar riffs, and heart-piercing vocal melodies to deliver cathartic emo bliss—a firm proof of concept for the potential of such sonic combinations and a stunning-welcome to dynastic’s new aesthetic arena. It’s been a remarkable evolution for the singer/songwriter/producer, who five years ago could be heard making erratic, digital-fusion-esque electronic compositions for DESKPOP – a far cry from the pop-punk and hardcore stylings of their most recent work.

While they’ve toyed with rock-oriented instrumentation in the past, it wasn’t until last year's Lovesick, etc EP that their knack for writing and performing ferocious, catchy rock songs came into clear focus. Now on I know there’s something left for you, dynastic takes it up another notch, fusing pop-punk, powerpop, emo, and blitzing electronic instrumentals into one of 2022’s most staggering records so far. The album is a showcase for an artist at the peak of their songwriting powers, homing in on a sound that’s wholly their own.

Dynastic fully buys into both internet and punk music’s shared tonal and aesthetic sensibilities. It’s a trip listening through the album's seamless integration of anthemic hooks and infectious guitar riffs with robotic vocal processing and distorted synths. Take the album’s first five songs, which represent a sample of the album’s overall genre-blending experience. The project kicks off with “true owl (intro),” a hypnagogic indie-pop song that utilises its intensely fuzzy presentation to bury dynastic’s scowling croon, an effect that heightens the emotion of their straining vocal performance. The opening track then bleeds into “ftl,” which quickly delivers a cathartic release with its raucous guitar breakdown. Next is “no romance,” a scuzzy tune that blends a banging, trunk-rattling beat with walls of guitar and vocal distortion before transitioning into “sway,” a song whose vocal sampling and saccarehine hook sound like it could have fit on a DIY-garage rock version of Porter Robinson’s Nurture. Then there’s “caldecott,” featuring Polygon Cove, the song on the album that best resembles contemporary hyperpop aesthetics with its pitched-up vocals, drum n’ bass beat, and squealing synths. Clearly, I know there’s something left for you is an eclectic album, but despite dynastic bouncing from sound to sound, nothing sounds out of place – a testament to the artist’s songwriting and sequencing intuition.

The rest of the album's tracklist is littered with fantastic ear candy, from the swooning, show-stopping chorus of “Jacqueline” to the hypnotising flow of “all good people are asleep,” which features saoirse dream. However, what makes the album truly special is that dynastic doesn’t fall into the trap of merely mimicking pop-punk tropes from the past, watering the genre down to formulaic dirt. They instead take the sounds of their youth and actually push them into new directions, a simple lesson many could learn from the underground internet music scene.