For a person comparing herself to the quintessentially loathed cockroach, Folick expresses a lot of joy in her sophomore album. She is finding herself in solitude and community simultaneously, a process of equal inquisition and declaration. On the most confident and brash song on the record “Get Out of My House”, she sings, “I think I wanna run-dance / I think I wanna happy-cry / I think I want sunshine / Streamin' out of my two eyes.” And yet for all this joy, there is still a tinge of something insidious lurking beneath the surface: an ugly breakup, a crying call to her mom, a family secret.
Folick released ten of the 13 songs on ROACH as singles between April 2022 and the album’s release in May 2023. The album feels more like an update to a work in progress than a proclamation of anything new, but the album tracks are as good if not better than the previous releases. If Folick’s unconventional release strategy reflects a shift in the streaming landscape, it’s one that builds constant excitement for the record but obfuscates the function of the album as an art form. In the case of ROACH, its thesis was uncovered in pieces as the tracks trickled out. The message was decipherable if not yet fully formed: you may revile me, but you can’t kill me.
The songwriting on ROACH is significantly more direct than any of Folick’s previous work, especially that of her debut album Premonitions, released in 2018. She leaves little to interpretation on this record, refusing to hide behind flowery lyrics or exquisite production. On the emotional linchpin of the record “2007”, she sings, “I don't wanna be afraid of aging or gaining weight / I want to take up space / I wanna get up real early and stay up late.” These songs acknowledge fear without giving in to it and hold and examine emotions before releasing them. Perhaps presenting the album as a string of realizations reflects this dichotomy of uncertainty and subsequent assuredness that Folick sometimes describes in her writing, or perhaps she’s merely attempting to maintain relevance in the harsh streaming landscape. Regardless, Miya Folick orbits and sometimes grasps something transcendent about living through unprecedented times on ROACH.
