by Louis Pelingen (@Ruke256)
Izzy Hagerup, also known as Prewn, never shies away from the dirt and the grit. Her 2023 debut album, Through The Window, shows how comfortable she is to sear through the oily synths and swampy guitars, riding on top of a dirging atmosphere rather than let it consume her. It allows her raw vocal takes to cut through, never becoming diminished along the way. The darkness is constantly lingering, but Prewn keeps swimming into it.
Prewn keeps the tone, with System continuing to move from what she showcased previously on Through The Window, but now, there is a sharpness on display. A resounding heft in production and composition that pushes the grit to the forefront. This allows Izzy’s raw melodic chops to spark and charge, sounding both tarnished and clear all at once. The layer of strings that submerges to the lucid jingles and punchy climax from the title track makes things clear: there’s more tension that Prewn is touching upon this time around.
Subsequent tracks present this tension with fervor. “My Side” harnesses Prewn’s inner PJ Harvey, especially with how she commands the ragged mix with all of its noisy guitars, programmed drums, burly synths, and dramatic cellos. “Forgot” is stern and heartbreaking, piling upon saturated layers of instrumentation that put Prewn’s emotive performance at the front of the mix. “Dirty Dog” is cavernous in its soundscape that boils in lo-fi registers and ragged melodies, just before the tone flips towards ghostly trip-hop where Prewn murmurs in the background.
The darkness continues swirling around the emotions Prewn displays in her writing. A presence that continues becoming exhausting and listless, where it is easy for Prewn to double down on thinking about a lot of shame and fears that keep her still. Not exactly figuring out where to go next, and what comes after when she pulls herself down to this brink. Yet, it is within the brighter lilt of “It’s Only You” where there is a glint of light that pulls her in the right direction. The presence of love in her life that might not exactly resolve all the dread that Prewn still simmers, but for once, it is a pat on the back that she desperately needs. Enough to keep her pushing onwards, willing to try and get some of that light just a little bit more to extinguish that darkness. Furthermore showcased on the last lines from the impassioned closing track, “Don’t Be Scared.” “You can trudge through the grass / Find a question to ask / In the sludge you can bask,” sings Prewn with a drive in her voice, a glow that shimmers against that muddy void.
System continues upon Prewn’s sense of trudging through dimmed emotions, where the darkness is starting to be balanced out by light that can slowly take it over. This back-and-forth only lets Izzy Hagerup’s sharper handle on the production, composition, and performances really shine through, bringing her A-game on making those emotions sound simultaneously tender and fickle. Configuring one’s life amidst a harsh system might be a tough gamble, but despite all odds, just a hint of light can change everything in their path.