Detroit’s always been where music gets real and fresh, and that’s exactly where Hey Look Listen comes from – it’s the solo project of trans artist Gwen Katherine. Her debut album, “Now Is the Time,” is a nine-track firecracker that qualifies as a wild mix of shoegaze haze, post-punk grit, and dream-pop melody that’s brutally frank and beautifully made at the same time.
The second “Leave it All Behind” kicks in, you know Katherine’s on a whole different wavelength. The track starts with this deceptive calm, then it explodes into this massive barrier of sound. That’s basically the album’s modus operandi: the quiet-loud-quiet formula, but shot through with a heavy dose of modern anxiety and basic exposure. Take “Lowell,” the lead single. It starts with what seems like your standard indie guitar strum, right? Then it goes straight into this chorus of echoing, brain-melting guitars that hit like a sledgehammer. And that solo is a fresh nerve exposed, pure feeling that drags you right back into the song’s emotional centre.
“Now Is the Time” is an album deeply preoccupied with the ghosts of the past and the fear of the future. These are songs about survival when the world’s coming apart at the seams, about looking your demons straight in the eye. Katherine digs into toxic perfectionism, disillusionment, and that suffocating feeling when expectations box you in. Her lyrics cut right to the bone. She’s said it herself: “Each song represents the parts of me that I find not so endearing.” But it’s not some self-absorbed diary entry; it’s laying everything bare for the world to see; and singing about the “ruins of expectation,” we can sense the debris crunching beneath our boots.
As a solo project, the artistic vision is singularly Gwen Katherine’s. She wrote every note, every word, and produced the entire collection herself. That’s one hell of an accomplishment, right? Those guitars are the real MVP here, morphing from dreamy, crystalline moments into riffs that’ll have shoegaze and grunge heads banging along. She’s built distortion, fuzz, delay, and reverb like a sonic architect – and somehow it never turns into a muddy mess. The production stays tight and punchy despite being thick as molasses. That’s skill, folks.
But it’s not a one-person show in the booth. The album gets a crucial shot of collaborative energy on the epic closer, “The Way It’s Been,” where fellow rocker Brian Ross jumps in with some killer additional guitar work. At over five minutes, it’s the album’s longest track and feels like its climax. Katherine’s voice is the album’s ace in the hole. Cool, confident, and dripping with emotion, she rides through all the craze with incredible clarity. One minute she’s smooth and soulful, the next she’s all fire and boldness, hitting every emotional note the album throws at her.
Tracks like “Stop Motion” and “Life Not Lived” (released as singles) both got these hooks that sticks like glue, mixed with this restless energy that keeps pushing forward. Then “Underwater” comes in and completely switches gears—it’s like floating in this gorgeous, hazy dream. Just when you’re getting comfortable, “Ease My Mind” gives you a quick two-and-a-half-minute breather before “Always Wrong” drags you right back into the craze. Seriously, there’s not a single dud on this thing.
“Now Is the Time” is what happens when an artist finally hits their stride. Gwen Katherine has forged an album that makes itself at home. For a debut, it feels way more like a declaration than a “hey, nice to meet you.” Hey Look Listen has dropped a very relatable and absolutely essential rock record.