100% is the songwriting project of Elaiza Santos, who formerly released music as Whatever, Dad and is also the vocalist of New York chiptune band Crying. It Gets Darker, however, is far step away from Crying’s up-beat glitch-pop. Instead, the most recent 100% record is a treasure-trove of low-key bedroom folk, dreamy and homesick lullabies that connect dots between early Mirah and Frankie Cosmos.
Santos’s words are tethered to their emotional resonance, pulling the sound of each song straight from its lyrics, as folk was meant to do. With lines about “boys who move west,” Santos flicks the strings in a way that says “goodbye.” “Lead Towards a Fire” breaks off into sonic embers like a crackling furnace once the lyrics address it. “Imaginary Thing” reflects the busy creation of figment in frantically picked, ascending notes.
It Gets Darker comes from a lonely fork in the road, but a quiet strength prevails throughout the album. Intermittent soundscapes of clucking chickens, soft chimes, and the wind only amplify the album’s pre-existing solitude. The album is streaming below.
