2023 saw Cub Capulet go over the top. Like way over the top: Cosplay as a floor lamp? Check. Give concerts in people’s living rooms? Check. Frame his favorite cardigans as if they were game worn jerseys? Check? As random as these occurrences may seem, they all culminated in the release of his seventh studio album “Pretend I’m In Your Living Room”. The pop/rap offering was concise, consistent, and colorful. A world in and of itself.

How does one follow up an era that could easily define them? In Cub’s case, he deconstructs the entire thing. Gone are the gimmicks. Gone are the colors. Gone are the pop hits (for the most part). “This Is Not That” is an album that only Cub could make. Literally. Nobody else would follow a Lo-fi waltz with disco. Nobody else would sandwich a UK garage instrumental between blues and Midwest emo. No two songs sound the same. Hence the name. It’s not his previous album. Hence the name. It sounds and feels like nothing else out today… hence the name. This is not that. And honestly, “this” has never had any interest in being “that” anyway.