Food House Tore Through Hyperpop in 2020. Now, They’re Back for Seconds.

Any hater could screenshot a line like “I slay the house down, girlypop and bussy cunt vagina” and declare this the downfall of music, but that’s partly the point. Recording the music and listening back, even Frax grimaced at some of her lyrics, but left them in because they highlight the absurdity of her life. That directness was partly inspired by Kendrick Lamar and Chappell Roan openly talking their shit; other influences are maybe more obvious: PC Music, YouTube oddities like Sue DJ.

Beneath its Epic Rap Battles of Herstory surface, two house is the duo’s most heartfelt music to date. They open up about being hurt by narcissists, ex-best friends, even family members. Fraxiom says they had to axe a couple of songs because they were too overt, which surprised me because some here are basically full-on hate-letters, with everything but the offender’s SSN yelled out. Lost inside the rattling synth-rain of “everybody’s eyes,” Fraxiom calls out her dad for not recognizing her gender identity: “I heard you call Twitter X/I’ve been trans for longer than that, and I still don’t get respect.” There’s a real moment of catharsis on the final song, “dumb ways to die,” after Fraxiom recalls an easier, more innocent time in 2019: pre-industry, pre-food house, when everyone liked her. “I’m a crash out with no identity and no integrity, I’m a parasite, I’m a grifter, I’m a—” they yell, before their voice suddenly shimmers as they switch to self-confidence and declare that they’re “trying to own my freak” over colossal, skybound drums.

You can adore or abhor the memes; what makes this album really hit are these reflections on alienation and self-love that anyone can relate to. “It’s crazy 200 bpm hyperpop, but the songwriting is so good and the lyrics are so real that it might even be able to bring tears out of someone who pays a mortgage,” Fraxiom says.