Alien Boy – You Wanna Fade?
Release Date: May 9, 2025
Origin: Portland, Oregon, USA
Genre: Alternative, indie, shoegaze
With You Wanna Fade?, Portland’s Alien Boy deliver a stormy, emotionally charged record that leans into the romantic melancholy and raw urgency that have long defined their sound. Blending elements of alternative rock, shoegaze haze, and introspective indie, the band returns with a release that feels both louder and more vulnerable than ever—an album steeped in longing, ache, and cathartic release.
Sound & Aesthetic
You Wanna Fade? is marked by towering guitar textures, punchy rhythm sections, and mournful yet melodic vocals that cut through layers of fuzz and reverb. The band’s signature mix of distortion and emotional clarity is more refined than ever—each track bursting with kinetic energy while still leaving space for breath and tenderness.
The production emphasizes contrast: lush shoegaze atmospheres sit alongside moments of alt-rock punch, with melodies that feel like they were meant to be screamed in bedrooms and on dimly lit stages alike. The songs move fast, but always with emotional purpose.
Themes & Mood
As the title suggests, You Wanna Fade? is a meditation on disappearance—emotional, relational, and existential. It speaks to the desire to retreat, to dissolve, and the aching need to be seen and felt before slipping away. Lyrically, the album explores heartbreak, identity, self-erasure, and the fragile beauty of trying to hold on.
The mood is bittersweet and charged—an electric sadness that refuses to stay quiet. It’s an album about surviving emotional turbulence by turning it into noise, melody, and motion. The tension between collapse and resilience is constant, and deeply affecting.
Critical Response
You Wanna Fade? has received acclaim for its tightly written songs, immersive sound design, and emotional authenticity. Critics have highlighted Alien Boy’s ability to combine emotional intensity with pop sensibility, creating music that feels both fiercely nostalgic and defiantly present. It solidifies the band’s place as one of the most vital acts in today’s alternative and shoegaze revival scenes.
Listen on Youtube (full album)
