Letterstoyou is one of the many projects from the mastermind more widely known, perhaps, for Sadness. This comp gathers the first three releases from Letterstoyou. Eighteen songs is an insane amount to have on a tape. They're almost completely sold out too, so be quick if you want one!
ZBR has been putting together loads of great discography/compilation releases recently and this is the latest one. Opening with ‘Lifted’, the first of four tracks from the very first Letterstoyou release And Crying Impulse (released July 2025) is both kind of obvious but also a masterstroke, as it shows right away what the band is about. Solo emo-violence/mathcore instumentation with shrieking/black metal vocals. I didn’t realise that all three releases featured here were only released last year! Crazy productivity.
‘Fireflies’ follows with a more gentile intro before morphing into a start/stop collage of melody, mathcore heaviness and piercing vocals. Its mid-section is instrumental emo at its best, but the foreboding notion that it’s going to blow up again is always there, and it does so but slowly. The build-up is done in a very obvious way, where it readies you properly before hitting something that’s nearly full-throttle. On the contrary, ‘Watch Your Lips Beg’ kind of moves in the opposite direction. It’s heavier than it is light and it has more urgency, due to its brief length.
Rounding out the And Crying Impulse portion of this collection, ‘Summer Rain’ shows an even more expansive side to Letterstoyou. Every texture and sound seem to be completely separate yet they fit together perfectly. It’s crazy how that happens. Even after years of listening to and digging deeper into the music, I still don’t know how it’s possible. Maybe that’s why I’m not a musician! The next portion of this collection belongs to Feral Growth At The Side Of Mystery (also released July 2025) and ‘Letter To You: July 7’ is a lot more subtle, at least until it fully kicks in, when the mix of twinkly emo and mathcore seems to become even more entwined. It’s quite majestic really.
The drumming on ’Subtle Language’ is amazing and it’s given so much space, which was very unexpected. It’s only joined by quiet guitar and acts as a massive drum solo for at least two minutes. When the guitar and vocals grow in prominence later on, the drumming is still there and just as spellbinding, It’s just fills for days. I was going to say that title-track ‘Feral Growth At The Side Of Mystery’ was more normal, but there’s nothing normal about it. There are less drum fills here, but instead there are some proper heavy breakdowns and melodic textures that sound like 80’s video game synths in parts.
It’s normal for me bemoan those pauses between songs but I think with Letterstoyou, they do work. ‘Letter To You: July 9’ may be a continuation of track 5 ‘Letter To You: July 7”, but I’m not sure how to tell you if it is. It’s better to treat it individually though, as once again the project delivers a song that’s expensive and quite diverse in my opinion. ‘From A Photograph’ is Killers-esque for a brief minute, but not for long so don’t worry (sorry for what comes out of my head sometimes!). It’s hella funky though in places, reminding me of some nu-metal in the riff department. Maybe Incubus? Really, there’s just a whole lot of beauty and a dash of mayhem here.
‘Our Naked Legs’ is the final song on Feral Growth At The Side Of Mystery and its warm, fuzzy rawness radiates throughout the recording. It’s a lengthier song once again but that just adds to the enjoyment, with more off-kilter instrumentation, frenetic screams and bass-drops that bookend more lovely emo. The collection closes with the self-titled album, which was released in November of 2025. It’s quite something to hear how far the songwriting and musicianship of Letterstoyou progressed through these three releases. ‘November’ is a case in point, being more brooding and mid-paced with a big hint of shoegaze, until the emoviolence kicks in.
The melodic, country-like intro to the excellently titled ‘You’re The Warmest Place I’ve Ever Felt’ fools you, but only for a moment, as familiarity returns fairly quickly. The melody is retained throughout the song though, which has violent elements but also nods to modern pop culture too. The urgency is real here as ‘My Veins Are Burning’ presents an aural take on that very notion. It’s like it was written as a commentary about how polarised and angry society is becoming, while also referencing the rise in environmental temperatures we’re all facing. My interpretation’s probably way off the mark, but I don’t mind. I still feel it!
It’s back to the off-kilter madness on ‘Eight Autumn’ and suffice to say, it’s bloody brilliant. Cathartic songs like this seem to come along exactly when I need them. I’m not sure if that’s the case for everyone else! That mentality carries on through ‘Early Garden’, even when it drops back into the same guitar refrain that appeared on ‘You’re The Warmest Place I’ve Ever Felt’ towards the end. ’Orange Lights And November Rain’ contains emotive spoken-word and instrumentation that gets faster and faster, before crushing hardcore riffs take over. The rest is history as they say, as it’s over before you know it. A whirlwind of excellent screamo and extreme heaviness.
‘My Heart Is Beating Out Of My Chest’ is a bewildering song, as it combines nursery rhyme-esque melodies with furious screamo. I’ve got to say that dramatic penultimate songs don’t get much better than this. Ending with ‘Lavender Orange Blood’, Letterstoyou sign off in beautiful style. This has been a joy to listen to and while my paragraphs have shortened (I still need to edit it as well!), my love for Letterstoyou has grown. A project that’s new to me but one that also sounds so familiar. To have three releases gathered in one place is a great way for new fans to discover it too.
You can stream and buy the collection as a name-your-price download from ZBR below:-
Letterstoyou Instagram - @letterstoyouscreamo
All three releases are also available digitally to buy directly from Letterstoyou here -https://letterstoyouscreamo.bandcamp.com/music.
Very limited tape copies remain for sale via ZBR here - http://www.zegemabeachrecords.com/zegema-beach-releases/ashoeboxofletterstoyou and Third House Label here - https://thirdhouse.limitedrun.com.
Zegema Beach Records Instagram - @zegema_beach
Third House Label - @thirdhouselabel
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