Song You Need: Forget emerge from the fringes with the dread-laden “100 Seats”

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Fans of the gauzy yet beautiful Oneohtrix Point Never scores to Good Time and Uncut Gems will feel instantly at home with the music of Forget. The New York duo's "100 Seats" is a bittersweet churn of synths that feel as close to climactic post-rock as it does the eye of a rave. It's an aesthetic that is carried over into their self-titled debut EP, which was released quietly earlier this month. The connection to those aforementioned movies is not entirely random, admittedly. Forget was released by directors Josh and Benny Safdies's Elara, who have launched a music arm of its production company to get the project out into the world. "100 Seats" comes with a Safdies-directed video in which a band (not Forget) scrap over a disagreement before an impromptu buzz-cut lightens the mood.

The backstory of Forget's Axel Norddman (keyboards) and Michael Chaiken (guitar) already has the feel of a cult music documentary. Despite having formed in 1996, they never released any of their experimental pop music, preferring to keep their work under wraps. The new EP marks their first official release and features music recorded since 2019 which was then sculpted into shape by producer Matt Cohn, who has worked with The Weeknd and Charli XCX. "100 Seats" has an undeniably cinematic quality, widescreen in its scope but with enough grit in the cracks to keep things personal. The Safdies specialize in pulling in characters from the fringes and putting them center stage. It may have taken a couple of decades, but Forget's time is now.