From the first soft strums of acoustic guitar on the opening track, Claud’s second album Supermodels offers a sweet-but-never-saccharine reflection on love, breakups, and the struggle to develop an identity in your early 20s. Supermodels is a grown-up record in comparison to their debut album Super Monster from 2021, with much more advanced production and instrumentation. They stay true to their simple but cutting lyrical style, free of pretentious multisyllabic words and heavy with familiar phrases and idioms. This style of writing makes me feel as though I already know the words to every song, even on a first listen. Claud’s writing on Supermodels is undeniably relatable for anyone who has ever lived through their teens and twenties; it feels like flipping through diary entries. This confessional style of songwriting shines especially bright on the simple, acoustic-heavy tracks; occasionally, I think the lyrical content gets buried under the heavier pop production (e.g. ‘Climbing Trees’). However, the pop tracks are so head-boppingly catchy that I still find myself returning to them.
The opening track, ‘Dirt’, is one of my favourites on the record. It is sweet and melancholy, reminding me of artists like Christian Lee Hutson and Samia. The tracks that follow pick up more poppy production, heavier with bass and drums. ‘A Good Thing’ tells a story of being conflicted about the nature of a relationship and the messiness that comes along with that: the chorus “What if we just leave a good thing alone?” is so simple and yet so cutting. Claud uses nearly-repeated refrains “are you thinking what I’m thinking” and “are you drinking what I’m drinking” before the choruses, and the resultant song is poppy, upbeat, and positively danceable. Adorably, the music video features actor Paul Rudd. This is especially funny considering ‘Paul Rudd’ is the title of track 8 on the album; it’s a bright poppy song with witty, but deceptively sad, lyrics. ‘Every Fucking Time’ relies on a well-produced, almost-scratchy acoustic guitar sound as the base of a soundscape that builds in complexity as the song progresses. It also features some of the saddest, simplest songwriting that is so representative of Claud’s style. ‘The Moving On’ has a lilting piano melody that gives the track a feeling of controlled chaos.
Claud is exploring aspects of more genres than were present on their previous album; one of my favourite examples of this is ‘Glass Wall’ where they lean into a more conventional grungey rock sound in the chorus and post-chorus. Some tracks have an almost 1980s-style synth-heavy pop sound (‘Wet’, ‘It’s Not About You’). It’s exciting to hear Claud broadening their horizons, and although I still gravitate toward their more stripped-down sound, the variety of styles makes the album an engaging listen from start to finish. To me, the album closer, ‘Screwdriver’, represents the album’s best blending of styles and poppy production elements; it starts very piano-heavy and melancholy, grows into an epic pop ballad, and closes with the same sweet sad piano sound with which it began.
Supermodels is an album that balances a mix of genres and moods. At times, I’m reminded of Best Coast, of Soccer Mommy, and of Phoebe Bridgers (unsurprising, considering Claud is on Bridgers’ label Saddest Factory Records). Claud’s lyrics lack some of the more sophisticated poetic stylings of similar artists, but their relatability makes up for it. It’s clear that Claud had fun making this record and exploring new aspects of their sound, and that joy transfers to the listener.
Words by Peyton Benac
Picky Bastards 
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