WHAT IS WALLSOCKET
Wallsocket is an album and ARG released by artist April Harper Grey, also known as Underscores. The album was released on September 22nd, 2023, and a directors cut was released on June 28th, 2024 which features four extra songs not shown on the original album.
On her instagram, Underscores mentions how she was inspired by a small town in Michigan called Wallsocket, and wrote her songs in the perspectivbe of some of the locals that she had seen. It is worth mentioning that Wallsocket is not a real place in Michigan, it was made up for the story of the album and ARG. The music of the album is mostyly comprised of pop, rock and folk and the themes of the album include: death, gun violence, religion, transgender identity, grooming, class resentment, parasocial relationships and more.
The ARG for Wallsocket was to help surround the story for the album and make the world of Wallsocket feel alive. I will breifly mention the ARG in some instances depending on the song. This shrine is more dedicated to the album itself, but one day I will make a shrine for the actual world of Wallsocket and the ARG for it.
COPS AND ROBBERS
"A bank teller flees the town of Wallsocket aftfer being exposed for embezzling money from his
clientele for over a decade." -From the SoundCloud description.
Cops and Robbers is the first song on Wallsocket., The song is in the perspective of a man named
Joshua Domingo, the resident of Wallsocket and father of a reoccuring character in the album named
S*nny Domingo, who slowly siphoned money from the bank he worked at and eventually got caught
This is both mentioned about in a town hall meeting report and in WaterWorks Weekly. The music video for the song does go over this event, and also introduces us to the main 3 characters: S*nny
(mentioned previously), Mara and "Old Money Bitch", alongside side characters that will show up in
other music videos. S*nny is shown front-and-center in the beginning of the music video.
LOCALS (GIRLS LIKE US)
"While the rest of the town is reeling from the bank robbery, three local girls try and figure out how to grow up." -From the SoundCloud description.
Locals (Girls like us) would be described to be an intermission, similar to the music video of the song.
The main story elements in the song are in the first and second verse. The first verse is in the
perspective of Mara, who is shown in this track and in later songs to be obsessed with S*nny. The
second verse is in the perspective of S*nny, who is could possibly be aware of Mara's obsession
DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH "S*nny's gets diagnosed with a rare disease and interprets it as a warning from God." -From the SoundCloud description.
Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh has no music video. This song is told in the perspective of S*nny, who is contemplating her recent diagnosis and wonders what she had done to deserve this punishment by God.
YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO I AM
"Mara, romanticizing the girl-next-door S*nny’s rough upbringing, breaks into S*nny’s house and pretends to be her." -From the SoundCloud description.
You don't even know who I am is from the perspective of Mara, who romanticizes S*nny's misfortunes and her life. The lyrics of the song describe how much Mara knows about S*nny, and eventually she breaks into her home and dresses up in her clothes to feel just like her. The music video shows snippets of the main three girl's life: S*nny leaving her home to hang out with an unknown character*, Mara breaking into S*nny's house after she leaves and Old Money Bitch watching her friend, Jack, be so adamant on joining the army, and worrying about his fate if/when he does. Old Money Bitch's situation is explained in a later song. Mara is shown to be front and center in the music video, similar to how S*nny was in Cops and Robbers.
JOHNNY JOHNNY JOHNNY "Just after she turns eighteen, S*nny meets an older man named Johnny with sinister motives." -From the SoundCloud description. Warning: This song features descriptions of grooming.
Johnny Johnny Johnny has no music video. This song in the perspective of S*nny, who meets a man named Johnny. S*nny explains how she loves Johnny and that he was the only one to validate her true self*. Later on she realizes that Johnny doesn't love her for her true self, but that he is a predator and only loves her for the fact that she is a teenage girl. In a video, Underscores explains the key message she wanted to potray in the song, stating that there is a predatory rabbit hole that trans kids can unfortunately fall into. There is a happy ending for this song, as S*nny does escape the situation.
*It is worth noting that S*nny is transgender. SHOOT TO KILL, KILL YOUR DARLINGS "Old money bitch tries to figure out how she feels about potentially losing her close friend." -From the SoundCloud description.
Shoot to kill, kill your darlings also has no music video. This song is from the perspective of Old Money Bitch and how she doesn't understand why her best friend Jack wants to join the army. She goes on to talk about how both her and her best friend are well off, and that there are other things he can go into to feel like a hero in. She reminices on a alternate future where her best friend hadn't gone off to join the army and would be living fine and well. Old Money Bitch becomes increasinly worried, flat out stating that she just doesn't want him to die.
HORROR MOVIE SOUNDTRACK "Old money bitch decides that her apathy makes life not worth living." -From the SoundCloud description.
Horror movie soundtrack, following the previous two songs, has no music video as well. Like the previous song in the album, Horror movie sonudtrack is told in the perspective of Old Money Bitch. The song describes how she, feels suicidal, from her situation involving Jack, and numb even with all the privalage she has. The repeated lines at the end of the song shows how even though she doesn't see life worth living anymore, she wont let others off the hook.
OLD MONEY BITCH
"Unaware of her hypocrisy, Mara bashes Old money bitch for trying to hide her wealth." -From the SoundCloud description.
Old money bitch is from the perspective of Mara, who makes fun of and bashes Old Money Bitch for trying to hide the fact that she is wealthy by trying to blend in with the locals. There is irony to this, as Mara herself is also wealthy, Old Money Bitch even tries to reason with her by saying that the both of them live ideal lives because of their wealth, but Mara ignores this. The music video for the song is primarily focused on Old Money Bitch, having a party at her house. Occasionally we can see the other two main girls show up in the music video, such as Mara and Old Money Bitch having a fight during the party. Like previous music videos, the beginning shows Old Money Bitch front and center.
GEEZ LOUISE! "S*nny’s friend Jordan unearths their peoples’ shared history, altering her stance on religion." -From the SoundCloud description.
Geeze louise has no music video currently. The song is in perspective of S*nny, who describes her new altered stance on her faith because of her friend. The song discusses colonization and the phasing out of the third gender due to it in specifically Filipino culture, as Underscores is Filipino. There is also emphasis on the role that the Catholic Church played into the colonization.
SEVENTY-SEVEN DOG YEARS "Mara talks to S*nny and sees how heavily her father’s misdeeds affected the family." -From the SoundCloud description.
Seventy-seven dog years also has no music video. This song is in the perspective of both Mara and S*nny, the first verse from Mara's view and the second verse from S*nnys, similar to the perspectives in Locals. In the first verse, Mara goes on how she would stalk her, while the second verse S*nny talks about her father, calling him out for breaking the family due to his stealing of money. Mara also wishes S*nny well later on in the song, which potentially shows her detachment from S*nny.
UNCANNY LONG ARMS "Mara wakes up and finds her arms are longer than usual. Upon getting her arms reduced, she has an epiphany." -From the SoundCloud description.
Uncanny long arms has no music video. This song is from Mara's perspective once more, who realises her obsession with S*nny is no longer harmless like she thought and has real-world effects and that she crossed a boundary and theres not coming back from it. Later in the song, its stated that she died during her arm reductionsurgery, and is resuscitated and brought back. After being brought back, she comes to an epiphany, how she has put on a front on everyone and herself.
GOOD LUCK FINAL GIRL "The girls realize that navigating adulthood is an individual responsibility." -From the SoundCloud description.
Good luck final girl has no music video as well. This song, the final song of the album, flips between the perspectives of all three of the main girls. The first verse is most likely in Mara's view, showing how despite her becoming less obsessive with S*nny, it's hard to get rid of old habits. The second verse is potentially in S*nny's perspective, who realises that she doesn't need other people to be who she is. The final verse is in Old Money Bitch's perspective, who has postponed her suicide due to the apathy that effected her disappearing as she is instead greiving over the death of her best friend. Each girl is described to be leaving Wallsocket via trains, after the trauma each of them endured and all of them giving their farewells to one another.
MY GUY (CORPORATE SHUFFLE)
"Deleted scene — Character(s): Darlene, Jack, Old money bitch
Three townspeople grapple with their town’s recent embezzlement scandal." -From the SoundCloud description.
My Guy (Corporate Shuffle) is a song that features on the directors cut of Wallsocket, where it was first found in the Wallsocket ARG. The song is in the perspective of three characters: Darlene, a member of Wallsocket who was shown previously in Cops and Robbers, Jack, previously stated to be "Old Money Bitch"'s best friend, and Old Money Bitch. All three discuss their thoughts on Wallsocket's bank robbery, which was shown in Cops and Robbers and mentioned in previous songs.
NORTHWEST ZOMBIE GIRL "Deleted scene — Character: Old money bitch
Upon reading of a girl from the Northwest’s chemically-induced emotional transformation, Old money bitch begins to yearn for something similar." -From the SoundCloud description.
Northwest Zombie Girl has no music video. The song was also first featured in the Wallsocket ARG before being released to the directors cut. Northwest Zombie Girl is in the perspective of Old Money Bitch, who yearns for something to fix herself after reading an article about a Northwest girl who "got all fixed up" from a chemically-induced emotional transformation.
CCTV "Prologue — Character(s): Ashley
The late daughter of Secretariat founder Jerry Bowman recounts the last week of her life from beyond the grave." -From the SoundCloud description.
CCTV also has no music video for it. The song is in the perspective of a new character, Ashley, who is the daughter of Secretariat's (the company who opperated Mara's arm reduction surgery) founder. In the song, Ashley looks back on the last week of her life.
STUPID (CAN'T RUN FROM THE URGE)
"Epilogue — Character(s): S*nny
After years of living in the city, S*nny decides it may be time to return home." -From the SoundCloud description.
Stupid (Can't run from the urge) is in the perspective of S*nny, who moved away from Wallsocket after the previous events from the story. S*nny has moved to the city and has been living there for years, but she has this constant urge to head back to Wallsocket as she still feels a connection to it. She finds that there is nothing else for her to do in the city, and the original urge of escaping Wallsocket has eventually transformed into returning to it.
The music video for the song doesn't really have to do anything with the surrounding story, but is still a good music video so go watch it.
WHAT IS WALLSOCKET'S IMPORTANCE TO ME
Wallsocket has been an album that basically changed my life. Very few albums in the past have done that for me, only examples I can think of are My Head Is An Animal by Of Monsters and Men and Sock-Footed by Teddy Hyde. I discovered this album on September 16th, more specifically I found this album through a Mirage Ultrakill edit, it was using the song Old Money Bitch. I really liked the song and had to look for it and listen to the full thing, and a couple days later I decided to listen to the full album. Each song is so beautifully made and the messages can hit close to home for me. The music videos for the songs are extremely well made too, even more so when finding out that they were all shot on an IPhone. The ARG as immersion for the album was super creative too! It does a really good job of expanding on the story of the album and creating immersion.
I have not fully watched the "Wallsocket any% production speedrun" video, so there may be deails that I have not mentioned or missed. Overall, Underscores has basically become one of my favorite artist, if not my Favorite artist. I haven't had a hyperfixation on a musician since 2018-2020 give-or-take, so it feels exciting to be this interested in a band again. Would love to be able to get some merch and eventually go to a concert one day!
