Discovery Zone - pair a dice, 2023

"Pair a Dice has perky synthpop bobbing in an empty sea of minor chords, the perfect musical analogue for the lyrics: “How can you leave when you’re living in somebody else’s dream?” The innate melancholy of nostalgia, plus the comforting commercialism of 80s nostalgia in particular, is teased out by the album’s strongest melody on Mall of Luv – “Take me back to the Mall of Luv / I wanna buy it, I wanna live inside of it” – which will sate anyone who set their John Maus albums aside after he attended the 6 January Capitol riot."