Culture Corner
The Arts Desk’s weekly picks for music, movies and more
BY JULIE HUANG — arts@theaggie.org
Album: “Fell Asleep in the Sun” by After (2026)
After’s origin story consists of Graham Epstein and Justine Dorsey meeting on Hinge, bonding over Creed and deciding, fortuitously, to start a band. Their sound, initially explored in singles like “Outbound” and “300 dreams,” is explicitly reminiscent of early-2000s mainstream pop and alt rock. Combining trip-hop production with Dorsey’s smooth vocals, After provides the sonic equivalent of the 2000s’ frutiger aero aesthetic, with its glossy visuals and sparkling optimism toward digital progress (which, by now, may appear sorely dated). The presence of other period-specific aesthetic influences, such as the curated stylishness of Y2K mall culture, establish After’s artistic identity as one intentionally built on nostalgia.
Their first album, “Fell Asleep in the Sun,” is an amalgamation of all these glimpses into a bygone past, which paradoxically lives on through its enduring influence. The lyrics are simple and vague, evocative more than informative and ultimately paint a fragile picture of memory and longing — questioning the very nostalgia that serves as the album’s musical foundation. Tracks like “Snowburn” can’t help but examine this urge for nostalgia with what looks to be a critical eye — “Everything you said, everything you wanted / Could you feel it all again? What did you recall?” Far from being ominous, this unspecificity leaves room for hope. In an earlier track, “Secret love song,” affirms, or at least tries, to claim that “nothing ever really ends.” Maybe, on some particularly cozy autumn night, it’s okay to indulge a little in the comforts of nostalgia.
Book: “Brideshead Revisited” by Evelyn Waugh (1945)
To me, this novel is clearly the spiritual precursor to Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History” (1992), her infamous debut work, which attempts to deconstruct the dark academia aesthetic but inevitably falls into the trap of romanticizing it instead. That novel has spawned many imitations of varying quality, but it too has its inspirations — which explicitly include Waugh’s works. The product of an English writer witnessing the brutality of World War II and the breakdown of the old social order, “Brideshead Revisited” is deeply concerned with the inviting nature of nostalgia as well as its disastrous effects. Moral decay abounds as the protagonist, Charles Ryder, comes to realize that the familiar world in which he grew up experiencing his first taste of passion and romance, has since become unrecognizably tainted by the passage of time. Beautiful memories transform into burdens and crosses that must be born (the novel is also deeply invested in Catholicism and the notion of divine grace). In the end, “Brideshead Revisited” is ambivalent in its treatment of nostalgia, recognizing its destructive capacity while refusing to stay away from it.
Song: “This Must Be My Dream” by The 1975 (2016)
The 1975’s discography screams November to me — I’m not sure why. It might be the production, which is generally crisp, layered and a little cold. It could be the lyrics, which, in their polished messiness, may reflect thought patterns typically experienced while attempting to get home in the complete dark at a calm 5 p.m. Like many of their other offerings, “This Must Be My Dream” is appropriately introspective and simultaneously self-satirical for any end-of-year tribulation. The song sizes up a promising relationship, then proceeds to diminish its own previous giddiness when unfolding lyrics make clear that the romance is destined for defeat. All throughout, the production and melody remain deceptively joyful, even when Matty Healy heads into the chorus, singing over and over, “What does all our love amount to?” I don’t know, but I love this song. It’s excellent for those chilly days when one wants to entertain moodiness without falling into it.
Written by: Julie Huang — arts@theaggie.org