Sebastian Alvarez has been releasing music since he was a teenager. He first caught my attention in 2016, when he was going by the moniker Peggy183. That’s when I heard “Hey Yuki!,” a delightfully kawaii bedroom pop gem. Over the years, Alvarez has drifted from sound to sound, free of the sort of genre restrictions other artists have placed on themselves.
From messy lo-fi indie pop to stuttering new wavey synth tracks to mellow Spanish acoustic tunes to nostalgic 90s-era hip hop, he’s tried it all. Alvarez’s willingness to morph, experiment and follow his artistic whims is a breath of fresh air in a musical world laser-focused on algorithmic supremacy that seems intent on trapping artists in smaller and smaller boxes.
Digigurl, “Playboy”: Some of Alvarez’s latest tunes, now under the moniker Digigurl, find him diving headfirst into doo-wop. The genre is a snug fit for the musical shapeshifter who sounds both genuine and fresh. On “Playboy,” Alvarez bemoans being defined as a lothario, singing sweetly “Darling, don’t you believe them. They say that to hurt us, don’t think of me as a playboy,” which would seem to me to be exactly what a playboy would say. In any case, the track is an infectious daydream of a song.
Like what you hear? Check out Digigurl at The Fazes’ album release show at sixtytwo on Thursday, Oct. 31.