PULP RECAP: Top 20 Albums of 2019
By Patrick McKenzie, Jocelin Chan, Michael Sun, Chuyi Wang, Lawson Wrigley, Rhea Thomas, Maddy Ward, Haydn Hickson, Nina Mountford, Lewis Ulm, Sylvia Lee, James Newbold, Jamie Weiss
20. Black Midi: Schlagenheim (Patrick McKenzie)
The Mercury-prize nominated debut from the UK four-piece whose members are scarcely old enough to drink in many countries is like a glistening diamond from the depths of hell. Although many track names are nonsensical, lyrics incomprehensible, and the album title sounds like a German town that’s hundreds of years old, Schlagenheim is the sort of frenetic genius that makes the listener take a few steps back and really pay attention.
Genre-wise, the band sits at a perfect intersection of post-punk, experimental, math, and progressive rock with the stilted grooves they lay down only comparable to Primus on Adderall. Virtuoso drummer Morgan Simpson’s hyper-technical arrangements and Geordie Greep’s whimpering demon-possessed vocals create a signature vibe here, becoming the main highlights on nearly every song. Standout tracks like ‘Near DT, MI’, ‘bmbmbm’, and ‘Ducter’ play with frequent quiet/loud alternating dynamics, sliding quickly between beautiful melodies and buttery jazzy-edged shuffles and swings to intense note-gasms that feel like they’re about to bring the apocalypse. Lyrics are less a presence tied to mood and theme than they are a sensory instrument all of their own. Tracks like ‘Western’ create a fever-dreamy atmosphere that feels straight out of surrealist fiction: “A pink caterpillar with six anorexic children let me stay/But I had to keep moving through anteater town”.
If Greta Van Fleet are meant to be bringing back blues rock then Black Midi is taking the dissociative rage of The Birthday Party and the off-the-wall weirdness of Captain Beefheart and spinning it into something entirely new.
19. Stella Donnelly - Beware of the Dogs (Lewis Ulm)
With an incredible voice and an uncanny knack for humorous yet poignant songwriting, Stella Donnelly’s breakthrough debut album Beware of the Dogs has cemented the 27-year-old as one of Australia’s best new talents. Indie rock jams parade the tracklist, with clear highlights Tricks and Old Man serving as bops with serious undertones, both tracks criticising oppressive and inappropriate men in a sophisticated yet fun way.
And this message is triumphant throughout. Whether showcased through rocking grooves, slow jams or ballads, Donnelly’s maturity as a songwriter and arranger is prominent, the tracklist flowing smoothly along the underlying theme of dudes being dickheads. Donnelly’s voice impressively highlights these relevant and amusing lines, her stellar range shown off the most on the slow-burning tracks Beware of the Dogs and Boys Will Be Boys, the use of it emphasising the devastating lyrics with severe emotion. This strain is heard clearly in her voice and it is this that makes the album so powerful. The intensity of her emotions are so enthralling, so captivating that the album is not just beautiful in its music, but in its personal revelations: a diary of Donnelly’s thoughts bound by brilliant song.
18. Sigrid - Sucker Punch (Wilson Huang)
Norwegian pop sensation, Sigrid, navigates the boundary between mainstream and indie pop in her emotionally-driven debut album, Sucker Punch. Driving on the success of “Strangers” and “Don’t Kill My Vibe”, Sigrid meticulously crafts a sound that is as accessible as it is unique. While Sigrid may initially seem to give a sad mellow pop vibe as suggested by the album cover and some of the slower songs like “Dynamite” Sucker Punch actually inspires us to be kinder and better to ourselves. “Mine Right Now” and “Don’t Feel Like Crying, two of the album’s singles are about respectively about enjoying the presence of relationships and moving on from breakups.
As much as it is a pop album, Sucker Punch, clearly and wonderfully incorporates dance music into its sound. It's more upbeat songs create an uplifting sound akin to tropical house even when the road is tough, such as in “Don’t Feel Like Crying” and “Never Mine”. As well as this, Sigrid also manages to incorporate folk into her sound especially in “Level Up” and “Business Dinners”. Sucker Punch beautifully moves access genres and is as much pop as it is indie, dance and folk; ultimately, crafting an emotionally-charged yet uplifting sound that wonderfully portrays all that is Sigrid.
17. Hatchie - Keepsake (James Newbold)
The big risk with dreamy alternative rock like Keepsake is an over-reliance on pretty textures over solid songwriting and energy, leading to a generally uninspired monotony. Brisbane-born Hatchie overcomes this trend on her debut album – yes, her debut – to deliver one of the most memorable recent instalments in the genre.
In online discussion groups, she is already being mentioned in the same breath as shoegaze and jangle pop legends such as My Bloody Valentine, The Cocteau Twins and The Sundays. Some of this excitement comes from how fresh Hatchie makes this style sound. Keepsake isn’t just a throwback or worship of its genre but a breath of new life. Hatchie’s producer and mixer John Castle has done well to keep the lush instrumental mix from drowning some of the best pop melodies of the year, not to mention Hatchie’s underrated pristine singing voice. Keepsake’s reverby synths and guitars are propped up by winding basslines and propulsive drumming. The result is a liveliness not heard often enough in this genre.
Hatchie sings about fate and love, which she is always chasing, evading or looking back on - her reoccurring motto being "give it a try". The music itself varies too, from the swaying and sighing Her Own Heart to the blasting 80s synths of Keep. Keepsake’s album title comes from the closing refrain of Kiss The Stars: “You can keep the heart from the heartbreak / I don’t need to leave with a keepsake”. With her first album already so deeply enamoured with growth and change, we can only look forward to what heights Hatchie will climb to next.
16. BROCKHAMPTON - Ginger (Jamie Weiss)
As much as I love BROCKHAMPTON’s fourth album iridescence, there’s no denying its flaws. It was a rushed album produced under incredibly strained circumstances – not only was it their major-label debut, but the sudden departure of core member Ameer Vann due to surfacing allegations of sexual misconduct threatened to destroy the young rap collective. That iridescence was released was a minor miracle, and that it was so good was even more miraculous. If iridescence was BH’s return to form, GINGER is the collective taking further strides still. They’ve proved that they don’t need Ameer to succeed, and in many ways are better off without him.
I am a huge BH fan but one of my biggest complaints about them is that they’ve always seemed reticent to collaborate with outsiders – or even themselves. The vocalists tend to deliver their verses quite independently of each other on a track, which is fine, but sometimes makes their songs feel piecemeal-y. GINGER sees them step out of their comfort zone in that regard: not only do the vocalists interact with each other more across verses, but there are even a few features on GINGER – Deb Never, Ryan Beatty and grime’s latest superstar Slowthai all making appearances.
One of BH’s greatest skills as a group is their ability to blur genres, and nowhere is this better done than GINGER – jumping from G-funk grooves of ‘ST PERCY’ to light-hearted alt-hip-hop of ‘BOY BYE’ all the way to dreamy RnB on ‘NO HALO’, GINGER has a lot to love. My pick for the best track has gotta be ‘SUGAR’, which epitomises the “boy band” label the boys love to give themselves; it’s sweet but perfectly dissonant; it’s fun with a little bit of an edge.
Is GINGER better than iridescence? Hard to say. It’s more concise and perhaps doesn’t have the same emotional highs as its predecessor, but is a great deal more innovative and polished. It’s clear that the BROCKHAMPTON project still has a lot of life in it, and GINGER more than demonstrates how healthy and sonically brilliant they are.
15. Forevher - Shura (Sylvia Lee)
It is rare for a record to unapologetically, authentically celebrate wlw (women who love women) relationships in its entirety. In Forevher, Shura manifests the truths of her personal and sonic journey since her critically-acclaimed debut album, Nothing’s Real. This time, her record fuses her signature synthpop with sentimental bedroom R&B. Shura’s lyricism is deeply heartfelt, tenderly expressing the euphoria of falling in love with a woman halfway across the world. It is no secret that she was heavily influenced by her experience of flying over the Atlantic Ocean from London to Brooklyn for a first date, which she alludes to in mellow, bedroom jam ‘BKLYNLDN’.
Moving between scenes at the airport and bedroom, Shura strips it back, imbuing her sound with undeniable softness and sensuality. In standout track ‘Religion (u can lay your hands on me)’, Shura taps into the feel-good groove of disco, defying heteronormativity by using explicitly queer pronouns and proclaiming, “It's human, it's our religion/No preacher to teach us to love”. That’s what I love about Shura’s work: Her music isn’t overly commercial – despite the viral success of indie bop ‘Touch’ – and she isn’t afraid to invite controversy in her gentle subversion of religious imagery. In ‘Forever’ and ‘Flyin’, she likens being with her lover to “Elysium” despite “read[ing] (about homosexuality) in a Bible when I was just a kid”.
Shura’s music exudes such authenticity that it is impossible to separate art from the artist. As she croons in her eponymous opening track: “I'll write a song for you/That's me/Just a sweet melody”. She carries this vulnerability down to the last track in her record – in ‘Tommy’, her ode to a widowed man she met in Texas; in downtempo ‘Princess Leia’, in which she whimsically ponders, “How can I be sure I'm still alive?/Maybe I died when Carrie Fisher died”; in ‘Skyline, Be Mine’, her final breath of romantic poesy. Ultimately, Forevher leaves us with a sweet, subversive celebration of queer love that speaks to the powerful agency of the female voice.
14. James Blake - Assume Form (James Newbold)
The lyrics of Assume Form’s opening title track begin by reflecting on his unsureness and depression, but burst into relaxed assuredness in the chorus: “I will assume form.” The music follows suit, transforming from a timid stutter into a confident syncopation that would almost be braggadocious if it weren’t so laid-back. This opening is an apt reflection on how this album sits in James Blake’s career. After years of notoriously downbeat music, and a less consistent and focused than usual 2016 album, Assume Form sees Blake find a nocturnal resting place that borders on poptimistic – influenced by his partner (and at times on this album co-producer), actress Jameela Jamil.
Blake has also dropped some of his experimental tendencies, which while a highlight of his incredible self-titled debut became meandering in places on 2016’s The Colour In Anything. Blake is still one of the most forward-thinking producers and songwriters around right now, but Assume Form sees this creativeness channelled into accessibility.
The icy hip-hop beat of Mile High (feat. Metro Boomin & Travis Scott) and the elegant harps and snappy percussion of Barefoot in the Park are icy but also energetic, like a warm hug on a cold night. Blake also flexes his ballad-writing muscles on tracks like I’ll Come Too, resulting in some of the year’s best love songs with lyrics like “Oh, you're going to New York? / I’m going there, why don’t I come with you? / Oh, you've changed to L.A.? / I’m going there, I can go there, too”
Even on a more peculiar track like Don’t Miss It, Blake’s songwriting is especially beautiful. Dismissed by some as a throwaway non-album single until it appeared on this tracklist, Blake chipmunks heart-wrenching melodies over piano loops, begging the listener “Don’t miss it, like I did”. This song fits perfectly before the end of the album, by which time the listener knows that Blake is now happier – a tear of joy moment in an album with dark moments but full of tranquil beauty.
13. Tyler, the Creator - IGOR (Jamie Weiss)
Tyler, the Creator is one of the most fascinating and innovative American musicians of the 21st century, and IGOR cements his status as one of hip-hop’s brightest stars. Be warned: IGOR is a far cry from the acerbic, adolescent sounds he launched his career with – the Odd Future head honcho has grown up. Blossomed, if you will. His last album, 2017’s Flower Boy, was a game-changer. Tyler outed himself as bisexual and dabbled with more piano-heavy, poppy sounds, to great effect. IGOR is even more experimental: it contains much of the whimsical DNA of Flower Boy whilst returning to some of the aggressive synth sounds of his earlier works.
IGOR tells a story of unrequited love: Tyler falls in love with a boy, struggles with his own emotions and his love interest’s mercuriality, and comes to accept that things won’t work out. We are taken on this journey alongside some truly huge co-collaborators: Jack White, La Roux, Lil Uzi Vert, Pharrell, Kanye West and others making their appearances across IGOR’s 12 luscious tracks. Highlights include ‘I THINK’, where Tyler, guided by Solange’s dreamy vocals, struggles with his growing infatuation – (“Man, I wish you would call me / By your name 'cause I'm sorry / This is not apology / You are such a distraction”) – or the rapid bars of ‘WHAT’S GOOD’ bookended by Slowthai’s feverish calling to the heavens. Comedian Jarrod Carmichael’s interludes complete Tyler’s internal monologue and ground Tyler’s anxiety and mania.
IGOR once again demonstrates how there are few musical polyglots just like Tyler. Whether it’s sampling obscure 70’s funk, crooning over skittering keys or spitting bars harder than 99% of the rap game, Tyler is a visionary who’s finally coming into his own and getting the mainstream attention he rightfully deserves. IGOR is an absolute treat: a complex and introspective album that sees an artist at the height of his career lay it all down on the line for love. It’s easily one of his best works to date and one of 2019’s standout albums.
12. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors (Lewis Ulm)
Angel Olsen has returned in 2019 with another Missouri masterpiece, a tour de force of Olsen’s intricate analysis of love and loss, pieced together by an epic score unlike anything she has ever done before. Discarding her stripped back indie ballads and upbeat rockers for devastating orchestral arrangements, Olsen has never sounded better than on All Mirrors.
From the opening of the album the difference in Olsen’s music is clear, her voice complementing perfectly the bombastic drums and piercing violins - a rattling combo of beautiful sounds and rampant lyricism. Emotional ballads are a staple of Olsen’s discography, but they sound reinvented here. Without her guitar in hand, Olsen explores more freely the range of her voice and feelings, showcasing it in Lark and All Mirrors most significantly. Unexpected grooves are then found after these two songs, highlights including New Love Cassette and What It Is, both providing rocking relief from the intensity of the opening. But the softness of Olsen’s voice remains in the closing, as she croons vividly on the magnificent Chance, serving as her hopeful refocus on the present. The gentle grandeur of this track is musical perfection, and as the album lulls to a finish you can’t help but wonder what magic she will make next.
11. Taylor Swift - Lover (Nina Mountford)
Lover is the natural progression for Taylor Swift’s musical discography. In stark contrast to Reputation’s harsh, defensive tone, Lover returns to the comfortable softness of previous albums with albeit a hint of that REP baddass omfph. Like the title suggests this is an album for the romantics. Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince and title-track are songs that define this major theme. The undeniably ‘Taylor’ fairytale lyrics and steady melodic backing convey a confidence in Taylor’s self and long term relationship. There’s something for every kind of swiftie in this album, Swift draws on musical themes and genres from her past albums to create an honest portrait of her life in this moment. Paper Rings screams country Taylor and Daylight is just so 1989, though both with a 2019 twist. A special mention must go to the deeply personal Soon You’ll Get Better feat. Dixie Chicks, whose lyrics and simple acoustics perfectly capture the mix of sadness and desperation that comes with having a sick loved one. Overall, is it a cheesy album? Of course! But that’s part of why it’s so good. There’s no doubt that Taylor’s still got it and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
10. Charli XCX - Charli (Lawson Wrigley)
At first listen it’s very hard to not see this as Charli’s attempt at a more commercial remake of her most recent mixtape POP2. But really it’s an album showcasing all iterations of Charli and she owns every bit of it.
Charli XCX is a frequent collaborator and on ’Charli’ she champions her friends and fellow musicians as inspiration. She doesn’t just borrow a verse but brings out the best in her fellow collaborators which include Kim Petras, Sky Ferreira and Haim. The latter team up on the synthy ‘Warm’ where the auto-tuned vocals of Charli feel right at home behind the chorale of the Haim sisters. We also have the brilliant radio single ‘1999’ featuring our very own Troye Sivan who also appears on it’s excellent weirder sister ‘2099’. But the star collaboration has to be the pulsating war-cry of ‘Gone’ where Charli and Christine and the Queen, create an alliance of excellent vocal play, led by Charli’s scepticism and mistrust and very quickly joined by Christine’s mischievous musings. Together, they are a match made in heaven.
Overall, it feels like Charli is trying to appease all aspects of her fanbase; from the experimental mixtape fans most obviously on ‘Click’, to the True Romance fans on ‘Cross You Out’ and trying to garner some radio play on ‘Blame it on Your Love’. But some of the best cuts on ‘Charli’ are when the pop star is introspective. Charli has always been capable of making a sad banger but this time they’re so much believable. This is because she’s opened up about her love life in recent interviews that songs like ‘Silver Cross’, ‘White Mercedes’ and ‘Official’ which is a brooding revelation of love become more revelling examples of this vulnerability. It's moments like this when Charli allows a more personal snapshot of herself, that is the most ravishing.
9. 100 gecs - 1000 gecs (Chuyi Wang)
Regardless of what you think about 100 gecs’ hyperactive Bubblegum Bass instrumentals, excessively autotuned vocal delivery, and lyrics thickly-lathered with deadpan cyberspace irony, there’s something undeniably charming about their sheer irreverence for convention, polish and marketable standards. A duo comprising of Dylan Brady and Laura Les, both of whom have previously dipped their toes into the more extreme end of trap production, 100 gecs’ 2019 debut feels like a new benchmark for envelope-pushing pop music, and a cathartic arrival at the conceitedly digital, synthetic destiny first foreshadowed almost a decade ago with the genesis of PC Music.
Yet, 100 gecs revels in their own subversiveness with a kind of joyous energy that’s difficult not to love. Remember how we’re meant to detest the sound of autotune and dubstep drops now? The sparkly arpeggios and chipmunked vocals of nightcore scene releases circa 2008? The repetitive upbeat guitar strums of third-wave ska? 100 gecs proudly declares ‘fuck that’ and cranks all the aforementioned elements to the max, gleefully pumping out hook after hook as if they recognise their own audience - and noone else - is in on the joke. Look beyond the meme-worthy verses and you’ll find a collection of the most unabashedly fun tracks of the year.
8. Ariana Grande - thank u, next (Haydn Hickson)
We do not deserve a pop star like Ariana Grande. Not only has she been consistently putting out polished LP after polished LP, but she’s been doing so despite all the tragedy that gets flung her way. In the wake of the horrific events of Manchester, Ariana Grande maturely took her feelings and transformed them into the majestic art that we now know as ‘Sweetener’. Since then, she has suffered from a very public split with her ex-fiance, Pete Davidson, and the passing away of her ex, Mac Miller. Again, Grande turned her experiences into art and, within a 6-month period, we were given ‘thank u, next’.
‘thank u, next’ exhibits Grande at her most raw and her most polished. Album tracks like ‘needy’, ‘imagine’ and ‘ghostin’ invite you into the world of Ms Grande when she’s at her saddest and most vulnerable. And yet, with ‘break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored’ and ‘7 Rings’, we see a side to Grande that shows she’s acutely aware of her immature tendencies. This album is relatable - not for how we should be feeling, but how we feel under the surface.
Also, backed with a marketing strategy that didn’t adhere to the traditional LP-single cycle, this LP transcended expectations and became one for the ages.
7. Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go (Lawson Wrigley)
‘When we all fall asleep, Where do we go?’ was one of the most anticipated albums of the year, it saw the biggest anti-pop star with assistance from her producer legend brother FINNEAS smash it out of the park. This brother and sister dynamic duo combine FINNEAS's experimental production and Billie’s wispy angelic vocals to create a debut that will inspire the mainstream for years to come. It had the mega-hit Bad Guy that has been inescapable from its radio play and the deeper cut ‘when the party is over’. This album is in excellent in so many ways because of the fascinating and refreshing production by FINNEAS incorporating laughter tracks, vocals which sound like they’re being sung through a fan, and snippets from The Office (US). Billie is in her lane at the moment, sure her influences are clear; she’s a gothic gen Z mashup of Lorde and Lana, but she successfully builds off their aesthetics to create something that is her own eery persona, a vision of anti-pop. If this is the future of pop music, then strap me in, turn up the radio and give Billie Eilish the keys.
6. King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard - Infest the Rats’ Nest (Maddy Ward)
This is King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard’s second release of 2019, and the fifteenth of their career. Though they’ve flirted with heavy metal in the past, this is their first full length exploration of the genre: and it slaps.
A freewheeling ode to thrash and doom, Infest the Rat’s Nest is as much influenced by Marx as it is by Motorhead. The top tracks of the album balance the principles of both: Mars for the Rich is laced with the politics of eco-socialism, whilst Planet B is a perfectly composed future protest anthem. It’s as much concerned with the developing climate crisis as its musical forebears were with the Vietnam War, and is just as likely to soundtrack the political dissent of this century.
It’s also incredibly good fun. Here’s hoping this flirtation with metal evolves into an outright affair.
5. Lizzo - Cuz I Love You (Rhea Thomas)
At the peak of the commercialisation of body-positivity and self-love, oozing out of social medias at all angles, Lizzo’s music goes beyond in presenting a sincere and exciting take on being yourself in 2019. In Cuz I Love You, Lizzo aligns herself to represent everything to appreciate and nurture about individuality and it is so unapologetically her and gosh, could it get better? Cuz I Love You is a practice of self-seduction that reeks of power and clearly shines through her colourful personality. In the past few years, Lizzo’s made a major transition from indie musician to major label artist, conscious of her own success and agenda. As an artist so obviously talented in her own right, not a single moment in this album is wasted.
In highlighting tracks like ‘Cuz I Love You’, her vocals burst in admission, exclaiming: “I’m crying because I love you” - in contrast to the closing track, ‘Lingerie’, introducing listeners to a more intimate situation with her. As a classically trained flautist, dropping melody after melody in recordings and performances, Lizzo breaks barriers and associations of classical performance and suddenly, playing flute mid-rap becomes the most natural thing for her to do. This album shares unrelenting positivity and organic experience in tracks like ‘Jerome’, where the pristine production of the album is made evident in ‘Like A Girl’ and ‘Tempo’. Cuz I Love You indulges Lizzo in her own bubbly pleasures, presenting a twerk-centric, soul-funk-filled anthemic album with a big personality and a gloriously full sound to match.
4. Clairo - Immunity (Lawson Wrigley)
Claire Cottrill, or more simply Clairo rose to fame after the release of her 2017 lo-fi viral hit ‘pretty girl’. After many collaborations with electro producers Mura Masa and Danny L Harle, she was ready to shake things up. She surprised almost everyone with her debut album ‘Immunity’ which saw her showcase her soft-rock indie girl beginnings that are reminiscent of peers Soccer Mommy and Snail Mail. ‘Immunity’ saw her link up with ex- Vampire Weekend producer Rostam, together they create this lush, breezy and deeply felt soft rock album about Clairo’s coming of age. Clairo reminds us of those earnest teenage moments, whether that be a crush sitting next to you on the couch on ‘Bags’ or feelings of unrequited love on ‘Closer to You’. The latter sees Clairo’s experiment with her dreamy vocal engulfed by autotune, float above synths and soft high hat trap beats. Hidden amongst them all is ‘Sofia’, where Clairo sings about the struggle of a first queer love. This fear of the unknown is tied up in the line ‘I think we could do it if we tried…’ her voice on the verge of begging her crush. ‘Immunity’ is a lush debut that sees Clairo remind us of the intimate details of being young and in love.
3. JPEGMAFIA - All My Heroes Are Cornballs (Chuyi Wang)
JPEGMAFIA’s first breakout record came just last year with Veteran, pushing a more experimental and noisy approach to hip-hop production to new audiences. While some of Peggy’s appeal certainly lies in his abrasive beats, I’d venture to say that his unique persona - pissed off, politically charged, highly internet-aware and not afraid to do some shouting - usually takes centre stage. Although his brash and aggressive verses have previously left a little to be desired, 2019’s All My Heroes Are Cornballs sees a refreshingly introspective turn for the American rapper, who manages to leap between disparate vocal and thematic cadences with impressive ease, whilst still retaining the cutting cynicism and penchant for insanely quotable one-liners that popularised him in the first place.
The production here alternates between lush Standing on the Corner-type sampling and overblown distort-a-thons (full of all the most delicious fuzz tones imaginable), often switching up several times a minute. While there’s already a whopping 18-song tracklist, there’s probably upwards of 50 unique, interspliced instrumentals throughout the record’s brief runtime. The result of all this variety is one of the most awe-inspiring hip-hop projects in years, capturing in what appears to be effortless strokes soundscapes that evoke both J Dilla and Nine Inch Nails in equal measure. Peggy’s lyrics, self-aware and full of ire, are as entertaining as ever, and his newfound dexterity in weaving together tight RnB hooks only makes it all the more impressive.
2. Bon Iver - i,i (Michael Sun)
i,i feels feverish, not so much a whispered incantation of the self — as its title would suggest — as a portrait of its artist in the throes of deconstruction. It’s the result of a long decade of anticipation, beginning quietly, with folksy acoustics and trembling vocals, to the mysticism of 2016’s 22, A Million, to this: a record which sounds as if transmitted from an alien planet. Bells chime like quasars. Justin Vernon’s voice is stretched so thin it hardly exists at all. On album centrepiece ‘Naeem’, one might hear the clicking of a CD-ROM sliding into place. It’s 2002 and 3002 all at once.
That i,i manages to maintain consistency while rattling vigorously from one foreign sound to another is impressive alone — even more so when it plumbs Vernon’s deepest fears and extracts something beautiful. Vernon’s faith is on the line here, as is his family history, creative soul-searching, and — in a move that’s more Matty Healey than he’d like to admit — America’s homelessness rates, opioid addictions, climate crises. It’s the sound of existential chaos, all semblance of sense unravelling. It’s the sound of a world descending into hellfire and a career reaching its peak.
1. Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell (Jocelin Chan)
“It turns out everywhere you go, you take yourself, that’s not a lie,” croons Lana Del Rey on the fourth track of her sixth studio album, Norman Fucking Rockwell! Each of Lana’s new offerings has always represented a new stage of personal growth. The Lana of NFR! feels more tangible than ever, mulling over the kitschy Americana upon which she forged her career. The Lana of Born to Die professed, “I’m not afraid to say that I’d die without him”; the new Lana opens NFR! with a disdainful, “Goddamn man-child.” The Lana of Paradise called herself “an angel… screwed up, scared, doing anything that I needed”; the new Lana sings, “Hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have… but I have it.” The Lana of Ultraviolence yearns for the “West Coast” where “it all could happen”; the new Lana realises that California is “just a state of mind”. The music of NFR! is just as stripped back and expansive; “Venice Bitch”, clocks in at 9:37 minutes and froths over with psychedelic improvisation. It feels like it is over too soon.
In many ways, this is the same Lana. But in the familiarities of her sulky vocals, risqué subject matter, and retro-adjacent music, she pushes the boundaries of her identity. The voice that speaks in this album is more her own than a persona’s. And the truthfulness of NFR! paves the way to her apotheosis into the ranks of America’s greatest songwriters.