Still Woozy's Debut Album 'If This Isn't Nice, I Don't Know What Is' Is a Sonic Playground

Photo: Vince Aung

Still Woozy's music perfectly captures those hazy halcyon days, where sublime euphoria sits comfortably beside listless fantasy. In many ways, it betrays Sven Gamsky's origins as an artist who cut his teeth playing guitar in a math-rock band before refining his musicality by studying electric guitar and electronic music in college. Perhaps it's the idea then that every reaction has an opposite and equal reaction that leads us to the Sven of today, who with the release of his debut album, cements himself as an artist whose carefree passion is nothing short of infectious.

If This Isn't Nice, I Don't Know What Is arrives as a kaleidoscopic look into Still Woozy's idyllic world. "This album is me figuring out what an album could be," comments Still Woozy. "Each song is expressing a different part of my palette, something I couldn't do if I was just putting out single after single. It gave me the freedom and confidence to explore more than I ever have."

Fittingly, Still Woozy's debut album unfurls like a sonic playground where the artist is given the creative freedom and space to explore every left-field idea to its fullest. Take "Drake," a lovelorn track that saunters forward with the pace of a Spaghetti Western at a sunset. As a single, it would have likely stood out from much of Still Woozy's psychedelic pop catalog, but in the context of If This Isn't Nice, I Don't Know What Is, it serves as a welcomed break for Sven to take a moment to slow down and lay his soul bare. However, this rest is only momentary, as the next moment sees Still Woozy racing forward into the previously-released "Window," a standout track that demonstrates his genreless wit and inherent musicality.

Taken altogether, If This Isn't Nice, I Don't Know What Is may not come to be remembered as Still Woozy's inevitable magnum opus, but what it does manage to do is further define who Still Woozy the artist is. Lovesick, hopelessly optimistic, and playing out like a sublime daydream, If This Isn't Nice, I Don't Know What Is is a debut album worth losing yourself in.

Listen to If This Isn't Nice, I Don't Know What Is below: