Lucy Dacus - "Forever Is A Feeling" (2025)

Lucy Dacus is the first to return with fresh solo music following Boygenius' debut in 2023 significantly rocketed the singer / songwriter trio's exposure (comprised of Dacus, alongside Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker). I was already a fan of Bridgers, but following the Boygenius record I delved deeper into Dacus and Baker's solo work and I really took a liking to Lucy's raw and earnest lyrical style and very straightforward, vintage combination of singer / songwriter, indie rock and folk. While really emotionally resonant in places, her music is not flashy or particularly in your face, leaving it sounding quite versatile and timeless for me.

With Forever Is A Feeling, Lucy doubles down on this very lowkey, stripped back approach; swapping out the slightly more harder edged, fuzzy blues rock elements of her sound for gentle acoustic guitars and delicate chamber pop instrumentation. This is all to service the records narrative, which is very obviously about Dacus' blossoming romance with Baker following the closing out of the Boygenius era. The lyrics are sweet and saccharine, filled with the tepid excitement and hope alongside the worries and risk of falling for a friend. Following a short string prelude, the opening cut Big Deal tells the story of the growing feelings between the two, and that how Lucy was not prepared to take that risk and was surprised that Julien was. Set against gentle strumming and swooning strings, the song is beautifully bittersweet and really acts as the tone setter for the record.

The following track and lead single, Ankles, dives headfirst into euphoric jangle pop as Lucy indulges in fantasising about the exciting possibilities and potential futures this new relationship presents. The other teaser track, Best Guess, is similarly sweet and summery although takes a more grounded and pragmatic approach to the new relationship. Dacus frames the idea of romance as a best guess and that you never know if it will work out in the long run. It is an interesting idea for a song that is still incredibly positive and forward looking. Limerence was released as the B-side to Ankles and has a very different vibe. It's a slow and sparse, piano driven break up ballad. I'm not sure how it fits into the records narrative; whether this break up occurred immediately before Lucy's new relationship to Julien or sometime before. But lyrically, it is so dry and funny as Lucy describes falling out of limerence with this person while watching her friends chat and play video games. It's so nonchalant while also being quite heart aching, really. Lucy doesn't want to hurt this person, but she just doesn't love them anymore.

While it starts and ends quite well, the record's breezy and listless atmosphere unfortunately floats off into the clouds during the middle section. The subtle vocal approach and twee instrumentation sands off pretty much any tension or drive behind the tracks. Talk is on paper the heaviest track on the record, and while it does feature a couple of great lines, it is one of the most tepid interpretations of 90s alt rock I have heard in a long time. And its not like Lucy is out of her ball park here, there are plenty of tracks from her past couple of albums that go for this style and have way more bite to them. For Keeps through to Come Out just breeze by leaving little impact, and its only when Best Guess kicks off the final third of the album that I come back round to being engaged.

Bullseye is a jangly folky ballad with Hozier that I think works out. Hozier tends to dominate his duets, and with how tame the instrumentation is here that could've been the case on this one also; but he remains restrained and overall I think the song works out quite well. Most Wanted Man, similarly is a duet with Baker. The track initially presents itself as a twangy vintage rocker reminiscent of Revolver era Beatles, but as it progresses it morphs into more of a slacker rock jam with it's loose lo-fi guitar riffs and hazy vocals. You can really feel the energy and chemistry between the two on the song. Lost Time is an earnest and heartfelt slowburn to close out the album. The song starts as a gentle acoustic ballad, but slowly builds into a thick and heavy climax that once again brings back Julien for backing vocals.

Much like Lucy's previous records, Forever Is A Feeling doesn't rewrite the indie playbook - but is a solid, well written album that is a good time from start to finish. It does feel a little lightweight in places, so I don't think it tops Historian as her best. I still like it quite a bit and I think its a great record to have in rotation for the chill summer evenings or slow weekend mornings this year.

Top Tracks: Big Deal, Ankles, Limerence, Modigliani, Best Guess, Most Wanted Man

7/10

Lucy Dacus - "Historian" (2018)

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm trying to get back to talking about older stuff on here, not just new releases, and this was one of my discoveries in 2023 that I really got into. As I've been exploring the rest of Lucy Dacus' and Julien Baker's discographies following the boygenius debut last year, this (Dacus' 2nd album) is the one that I have kept coming back to throughout the year. The record really leans into the rough and ready indie rock stylings that I thoroughly enjoyed from the boygenius album, as well as the raw and heart-on-sleeve lyricism that Dacus' brought to her songs on that project.

The absolutely phenomenal opener, Night Shift, demonstrates what the album is about perfectly. It is a slow burning break-up power ballad. The song starts off quiet and mournful, before progressing into a noisy, fuzzed out 90's alt rock second half where Dacus' vocals morph into something much more bitter and resentful. It is a really dramatic and powerful tune that showcases Lucy's talent as a songwriter and performer. This launches straight into the much more jaunty and jangly Addictions - with much more straightforward indie and chamber pop instrumentation. The song has such a vintage feel to it, focusing on the core sound and vibe without too many bells and whistles.

I think that's what makes this album tick for me. It's focused on being a collection of tight and well written indie rock and singer / songwriter tunes without any guise or image to deflect into. Lucy is earnest and open in the lyrics, there's no smarmy wit or deflective irony here. Nonbeliever tells the story of the rejection and confusion that comes with deciding you don't believe in God in small town America. Similarly to Night Shift, the track starts small and linearly progresses into the swells of strings and guitar. Yours & Mine has a chugging country rhythm section as Dacus despairs in the current state of the USA at the time, and how she doesn't feel like she belongs there anymore.

Timefighter is about coming to terms with the passing of time and the impermanence of life, where Lucy quite bluntly sings on the chorus "I fought time, it won in a landslide". The song is super bluesy and heavy, with a thick baseline and hazy vocals. The track is moody and menacing, and topped off with a rapturous guitar solo on the back end. Next of Kin returns to the jangly vintage indie from Addictions, and is super sweet with its tale of insecurity to being at peace with the world. The penultimate song, Pillar of Truth is a gorgeous ode to Lucy's grandmother, a slow burning Americana jam with twangy guitars and triumphant horns. The track slowly builds to an immense, joyous climax and captures the adoration Dacus feels towards her grandmother perfectly. The record closes out with the quiet and moody Historians. It's a decent enough 'quiet closer', but it feels a bit of a downer after Pillar of Truth and just the general uptempo and forward looking second half of the record.

Historians is a great, straightforward indie rock and singer / songwriter record. No pretence, just well written and emotive tunes that really effectively convey the stories they are describing in the lyrics.

Top Tracks: Night Shift, Addictions, Nonbeliever, Yours & Mine, Timefighter, Next of Kin, Pillar of Truth

8/10

boygenius - "the rest" (2023)

boygenius' debut record is probably my favourite new release this year, and definitely my most played. The group has decided to quickly follow-up with this short EP of leftovers from those sessions, aptly titled 'the rest'. I don't have too much to say on the EP, as these tracks for the most part do feel like leftovers. They're a lot more stark and bare compared to the lush and noisy production of the record, and are all pretty short (three of the four songs are under 3 minutes). The core of each song is here, but not much else. 

Black Hole comprises of the first verse from Julien and then jumps straight into the climax of the song before finishing rather abruptly. Afraid of Heights is a more complete song, but beside the country-twang of the guitar, there's not all that much noteworthy about it. Voyager is definitely the best song here, being a text-book Phoebe ballad with gut-punch self deprecating lyrics. The song is slow and spacious, allowing the atmosphere to sink in. The EP closes out with Powers, and the rough mixing and breathy vocal performance from Julien give demo vibes from the song. The song is a good minute and a half longer than the other songs so has some more time to build up an atmosphere, but it still only has a handful of ideas and sort of fizzles out after the climax - with a horn outro bolted on to give some sort of conclusion to the song and EP as a whole.

the rest is exactly what the title suggests, some unfinished studio leftovers. It's fine, but nothing more than a footnote in each artist's growing discography. 

Top Tracks: Voyager

5/10

Hozier - "Unreal Unearth" (2023)

 

Hozier's debut record has held up well for me over the years, being a brooding and sinister record in places, but also witty and tongue in cheek in others. Tracks like Jackie And Wilson and From Eden are basically non-skips for me when they come up in shuffle. 2019's follow-up, Wasteland Baby!, on the other hand, really didn't stick with me. I felt it was just so much less inspired and far more commercial and generic. The only track that I regularly come back to from it is No Plan these days.

Unreal Unearth is certainly more ambitious, being an hour long semi-narrative record loosely following Dante's Inferno. I'm not really a literary guy, so I can't really comment on how well the album captures the themes of the book or whether it adds anything interesting to them, but it definitely has a greater feeling of heft and importance than Wasteland Baby! ever did. This is evident from the opening two part De Selby. The first part being this moody and sinister folk tune where Hozier sings in Irish about the connection to self and God, the second being a bombastic pop soul tune showing the flip side, where he sings about running fast enough to escape the things he doesn't want to face. I felt Part 2 was a little clean and polished when I first heard it, it felt like everything in the song had been turned up to 11. It's grown on me a fair amount since then, as Hozier gives it all in the performance and the hook on the song is damn catchy.

I have similar feelings about Francesca, the massive 'Take Me To Church'-esque single from the album. Initially I thought it was fairly standard Hozier, nothing we haven't heard from him before, and with a little more gloss than I would like. But the song at the core of it is pretty damn great and outshines the slightly overblown and unimaginative production. Eat Your Young is definitely the album highlight, with gorgeous cinematic strings soaring over bluesy guitars and Hozier's very dry, sarcastic lyrics tackling the logical extremes of neo-liberal, late stage capitalism. The gory imagery of 'eat your young' is about the closest the album gets to some of the more morbid stuff from the debut that was always really engaging.

While the cinematic and overblown production benefits some of the songs on the album, it certainly hinders others. Damage Gets Done is probably the worst offender, as it just seems every decision on that track knee-caps it in every way. It's a blown out new wave duet with horrendous booming reverb gated drums. It's not a style that I think Hozier is particularly equipped to pull off, but everything about the track is so garish and un-delicate. Hozier and Brandi Carlile spend the entire time fighting to be heard against each other and the ridiculously overpowering drums. On the whole, due to the albums length and how its mixed, I'm finding I'm getting ear fatigue by the end of it. Every track turns it up to 11 and there's just no space to breath. It's not an abrasive record, its just too loud and too overproduced.

The two tracks that really sell the cinematic atmosphere are the midpoint interlude, Son of Nyx, and the closer, First Light. They both use the string section to maximum effect. Son of Nyx is subtle and mysterious, and First Light is the linear, building, uplifting closer that the record needs to bring it out of the darkness and into the light. This is definitely Hozier's most downbeat album, and it can come off a little needlessly self serious at points - it does get a little bogged down in the second half and by the time Unknown / Nth draws to a close I am in desperate need of the uplift that First Light brings.

Unreal Unearth is definitely a more interesting and ambitious album than Wasteland Baby!, but its definitely has its issues and is a long way off the high bar set by the debut. There are a handful of really catchy soul and singer / songwriter songs that I really enjoy, but their wrapped up in an album that is a bit too bloated, a little too self serious, and way too overproduced. It's definitely a pick your favourites and save them kind of release.

Top Tracks: De Selby (Part 1), De Selby (Part 2), Francesca, Eat Your Young, Son of Nyx, First Light

6/10

Olivia Rodrigo - "GUTS" (2023)

Disney kid Olivia Rodrigo burst onto into pop stratosphere in 2021 with a string of smash hit singles from her debut record, SOUR. These singles incorporated a lot of early noughties pop rock and pop punk aesthetics which grabbed the attention of a lot of people, but for me what really caught me was the quality of the songwriting. In an era where the charts were full of viral barely 2-minute tiktok songs with half a verse and a one line chorus, Olivia was writing proper fully fledged songs with structure and a level of depth. Admittedly I didn't ever get around to listening to the full record, but Rodrigo was definitely on my radar as a pop artist worth paying attention to.

That casual interest turned into genuine anticipation with the release of this albums lead single, vampire. The song initially starts as a more mature parallel to her breakout song Drivers Licence. Both are slow piano ballads lamenting a shitty ex after a break up. vampire has a more 'classic' feel to it off the bat and Olivia's perspective is a bit less teenage melodrama and more emotionally raw, but both songs start off fairly similar. But as vampire progresses, it develops into a wildly different beast. The pace picks up with every verse-chorus cycle, the drum beat kicks in, and by the end of the song, it's more glam rock showstopper than piano pop ballad. That quality is present throughout the entire album, ideas aren't repeated twice, rather built upon and permutated to create some incredibly catchy and replayable songs. Second single, bad idea right? also demonstrates this with how the super catchy backing vocals on the chorus never stay the same each time it rolls around, starting off very clean and 'poppy' and becoming increasingly chopped up and processed throughout the song. The song is so damn fun, as Olivia sings about a one-night stand with a former flame that all her friends would say is a 'bad idea'. It also features a fuzzed out bluesy guitar solo outro, which is about the last thing I would expect from a big single from a major pop artist.

The whole first half of the record is exceptional, opening up with all-american bitch, a very Avril Lavigne-esque pop punk blowout about the pressure to be polite and permissible and 'not a bitch' that young women face growing up. The track is very dynamic, alternating between these quaint acoustic sections and brash in your face punky parts. Rodrigo outright screams towards the end, which again is such a brave choice that I just wouldn't expect from a record from a Disney backed pop act. It also has a brilliant transition into bad idea right?. lacy is an acoustic singer-songwriter tune that gives off more Lorde vibes and even as someone who is clearly not the target audience for the song, it really hits hard. the song personifies the beauty and personality standards imposed upon girls as the titular character of the song, Lacy (or that's at least how I take it). It's not about the systems that create these standards, but the weird obsession with the idea of a perfect person 'that must exist' that it creates in people. It's a really unique and multilayered take on the topic. 

My first thought when hearing ballad of a homeschooled girl was "This sounds like pixies", but considering the themes of the record, Olivia's general influences and the fact that she's brought them on tour with her, Kim Deal's following band Breeders is a better comparison. The bouncy baseline, the soft-loud dynamics, the misfit / outcast lyrics just scream late 80s / early 90s indie and alt rock. I did find it a little jarring initially as in interviews and across the rest of the record Olivia comes across so self assured and confident, but regardless the song is an absolute banger and so god-damn catchy. The first half closes out with making the bed, the first time the record really slows down. The song is a really well written piano slowburn about self sabotage. Its clever and mature, and I really like it.

The second half isn't quite as consistent, but there are some really high high-points on it. Logical is a song I feel kind of mixed on. The song has moments of some really great lyricism (the bridge is brutal - pardon the pun) and Olivia's performance is so raw and emotional, but it is also one of the more straightforward piano pop ballads on the record and does start to run its main hook of "love isn't logical" into the ground by the end of the song. Similarly, lyrically the grudge hits like a truck, but musically its probably the most forgettable song on the album. pretty isn't pretty didn't initially leave much of an impression on me, with a pretty run of the mill new wave instrumental and lyrics tackling women's beauty standards which I thought were covered much better by lacy earlier in the record. However, I'm such a sucker for that kind of style and Olivia's voice suits it so well it's grown on me a lot.

Nestled in between these songs is two really great power pop breakup tunes, the first being get him back!. Olivia details the childish desire to hurt back the person who hurt you in a really self aware and tounge-in-cheek way. The chanted chorus and deadpan delivery are a lot of fun. love is embarrassing is even catchier with its driving baseline and booming hook, "Cause now it don't mean a thing, God love's fucking embarrassing" Olivia wails at the top of her voice. The inflections she puts on during the back end of the song just make it for me, they're unrestrained and kind of batshit. The closer, teenage dream, is also really solid, and a great way to close up the records themes. The song is a slowburn piano ballad that blossoms into a rapturous finale, where Olivia unfurls her insecurities regarding growing older and the stress of expectations. "What if they got all the best parts of me?" she asks, which is something everyone growing up can relate to regardless of whether your a pop susperstar or not - the idea of 'what if life is already as good as it gets and its all downhill from here?". 

GUTS is a really adventurous and incredibly well written pop record. It doesn't pin itself in a box of following the trends and is better off for it. It's clever and witty, and has a lot of depth to it. I think Olivia is going to go on to do some really great things in the pop sphere and GUTS is definitely the first of them.

Top Tracks: all-american bitch, bad idea right?, vampire, lacy, ballad of a homeschooled girl, making the bed, get him back!, love is embarrassing, pretty isn't pretty, teenage dream

8/10

boygenius - "the record" (2023)

 

As I've fallen in love with Phoebe Bridgers' work following her 2020 sophomore record, Punisher, I've become more aware of her wider collaborations and writing credits. One such project was the 2018 boygenius EP with fellow singer / songwriter friends, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus. However, considering how much their respective careers have taken off since then, a full record from the trio was not what I was expecting at this point in time. But here it is, and it's certainly worth the wait.

The first taste of the album we got was three tracks, one with each member on lead vocals, dropped at the same time as one single. Each track of three captures a unique style and what each of the three members bring to the table. The first is $20, where Baker takes the helm, leading a noisy and chaotic indie rock jam that has vintage feel to it with its jagged lead guitars and dramatic shoegazy climax with hazy washed out backing vocals from Phoebe and Lucy. Following this is Emily I'm Sorry, which is very much a textbook Phoebe Bridgers' song. The lyrics gently mourn a lost relationship over pillow-y acoustic guitars and a gently pulsating drum beat. It is quite a beautiful song that removes itself from the deflective metaphors and bitterness that comprises a lot of Phoebe's solo work, which is why I can see how it's landed on a record that's got a more uplifting feel and vibe to it. The third of these songs is True Blue, led by Dacus. The way the chiming guitars open up the track after the very low key and murky previous song always reminds me of that feeling you get when you wake up on a warm summers morning and the sun peaking through the curtains and the day is yours to seize and do anything with. The track builds up in layers as it progresses, and just feels very wholesome throughout.

These songs sit in sequence at the start of the record as a showcase of the breadth of the album as a whole. They're preceded by the short intro track, Without You Without Them. The track is a simple vocal harmony piece with no extra instrumentation and feels quite stark compared to the three track that follow. I can't say I love it, it just feels a bit bare and without much connection to the rest of the record. The vinyl version softens this a little with a building synth transition into $20, and I really don't get why its not on the streaming version (maybe to make it more playlist friendly, I guess?).

The two songs at the centre of the record are full-on collaborative efforts, with each member getting their own verse. Cool About It is a damn catchy twangy acoustic country / Americana tune where each member takes turns singing about there own interpretations of what 'trying to be cool' with an ex is. Subsequently the chorus changes each time it rolls around, but maintains the catchiness of the melody. It's an incredibly well written song and has grown into one of my favourites over the couple of months since the album was released. The following song, Not Strong Enough, is the big bombastic centrepiece of the album. The song starts out as classic jangle pop throwback, with quintessentially 'indie' free-spirited lyrics about life bombing past you at a rate you can't keep up with. The track goes at a breakneck pace, building and building with more and more layers of reverb and backing vocals. It's the big, festival ready single of the album.

Revolution 0 kicks off the second half and would fit perfectly on Punisher. It features that same sense of morbidity and spookiness as that record, with the washed out instrumentation and slow, restrained climax of strings and horns and some really sweet backing vocals from Lucy and Julian. Leonard Cohen is a short but sweet blast about the joys of friendship sung by Dacus, focused around the time the trio took a wrong turning on a roadtrip because they were too busy jamming out to the titular musician. Satanist is such a fun 90's power pop tune, with the same playful, tongue in cheek nihilism as the likes of early Weezer. My favourite part is when Bridgers ad-libs "You know what I should do?" right before the cathartic guitar solo. You can just tell how much fun the group are having on this song. It then transitions into a reverb-y, dream pop outro as if the band has tired themselves out on this reckless escaped.

The final leg of the record slows things down, starting with a beautiful lovelorn ballad from Dacus, We're In Love. It's incredibly earnest, wearing its heart firmly on its sleeve. It would work perfectly as a closer, but there's still two more tracks to come. The first is Anti-Curse, which is very late-2000's arena indie. While I like the lyrics of the song, the musical side just feels very played out to me, from the the chord progression, to the pulsating base and drums which kick in the second verse, to the loud shouted final chorus. It doesn't really do anything for me and fills a bit like filler. The final song is a Phoebe one, called A Letter To An Old Poet, and is one of the most brutal she's ever written with lines like " You're not special, you're evil". I love the song in isolation, and it would not work anywhere else on the record, but it's just so jarring compared to the rest of the album which is so much more carefree and forward looking.

That's the only real flaw with the record in my eyes, that it jumps around a lot between styles and doesn't necessarily feel like the most cohesive experience (compared to Phoebes solo output, which is my main frame of reference for the group). But there's a whole heap of great songs on here and it's been in constant rotation for me ever since it's come out. I'm really excited to try out Lucy and Julian's solo work also now, as the vintage indie aesthetics are right up my street.

Top Tracks: $20, Emily I'm Sorry, True Blue, Cool About It, Revolution 0, Leonard Cohen, Satanist, We're In Love, A Letter To An Old Poet

8/10

Man-Made Sunshine - "Man-Made Sunshine" (2022)

Man-Made Sunshine is the new solo side project from Nothing But Thieves' frontman Connor Mason as a form of emotional let-out away from the band's typical alt rock style. Connor has never shied away from the fact that he is the main driver behind the poppier elements of the band's sound, which in my opinion have increasingly clashed with the band as a whole becoming heavier over the years. This makes this EP a nice diversion where he can explore more tender ideas of self-rediscovery against a gentler soundscape.

The five tracks here very much moody but hopeful alt-pop slowburns, where Connor's earnest croons are set to low-key synths and gentle acoustic guitars. While nothing mindblowing, they all maintain a level of quality and have moments that I do quite enjoy. Brain In Jar slowly builds to a very restrained and tasteful climax, and Big has a really catchy chorus and I would actually like to see a full band pop-rock balled version of this from NBT - its certainly better than a good handful of the radio rock ballads on the last album. Little Bird is just a cute acoustic song with really wholesome lyrics about being kind to yourself. The last two songs are a little darker in tone. Life's Gonna Kill You (If You Let It) is minimal piano ballad that is more similar to the relentless nihilism of the band's output on Moral Panic. Its probably my least favourite of the five as musically it is very simple and feels like quite a downer after the themes of Big and Little Bird, however its far from bad - just kind of unremarkable. Rosebud is more interesting, taking a dramatic arpeggiated descending piano chord progression and pairing it with Connor's most impassioned vocals on the record.

Man-Made Sunshine is a simple but sweet and consistent little EP, and it's nice to see Connor outside of his usual rock set dressing. If your a fan of NBT, you will enjoy this, even if it might not be noteworthy enough to come back to down the road.

Top Tracks: Big, Little Bird

6/10

Paolo Nutini - "Last Night In The Bittersweet" (2022)

Paolo Nutini is a favourite of mine from my adolescent years, with his work cumulating in the dramatic and grandiose Caustic Love in 2014. That record is still one that I spin regularly, having a timeless energy to it, eschewing the acoustic pop and folk of his first two records for a fuller and more rich combination of blue-eyed soul and bluesy indie rock. After touring for the album finished, Nutini largely dropped off the map for the following eight years, re-emerging with this, his fourth record. The album very much follows on from Caustic Love, incorporating a large full band sound with dramatic and detailed production. The influences at play in that album have further coalesced into a sound reminiscent of 70s soft rock - think Rumours era Fleetwood Mac. What results is a long and quite patient album that goes at its own pace. There are some of the more 'rocking' moments on here, but its quite clear that Paolo is more interested in being an earnest songwriter than a captivating showman on here.

All is evident from the 4 minute intro track, Afterneath, a slow build up of rumbling guitars and bass with Paolo's distant wails in the background. It's not the catchy and punchy single that his album's have previously opened up with. It then leads into Radio, a very relaxed and soulful soft rock tune where Paolo laments the disingenuousness of pop music and that "he wants love" and something he can truly relate to. I really like the song, but its one that quietly wraps around you and is content that it doesn't actually have to try all that hard. Again it's a song for Paolo himself, not the radios it is titled after. Following this is two of the singles, both very earnest singer/songwriter tracks, both equally beautiful and soothing. The first of these is Through The Echoes, where Nutini details a connection he has with someone that transcends their differences. Similarly, Acid Eyes yearns for the past and regrets mistakes made and feels like Paolo coming to terms with these regrets. It's sweet and honest and great. 

The next track is then a spoken word interlude, which means that Lose It, the sixth track and 20 minutes into the record is the first time it really breaks lose into a more up-tempo and momentum driven mode. Lose It is akin to some of the longer more blues rock influenced songs on Caustic Love, with its driving fuzzed out guitars and Paolo sounding gruffer and more gritty. The song is about letting go and just enjoying yourself - its great to just sing along to and forget the world. It builds and builds, introducing backing soul vocals and extra guitars and keyboards as it progresses to the climax. The other linear barnburner on the album, comes much later in the tracklist, being Shine A light, a song that sounds more influenced by heartland rock than the blues of Lose It. Equally great, it reaches outwards, trying to counter the loneliness and isolation you can feel at times.

In between these two songs, the album then returns to its unpressured meanders into lowkey and earnest songs. Everywhere has a vintage soul flavour to its swaying grove and electric organs, and classic bluesy guitar solo. Abigale is a simple folk tune reminiscent of Paolo's 2nd album, Sunny Side Up. The twangy guitars, bass work and melodies of Children Of The Stars is the most Fleetwood Mac-y the album gets, you can just imagine Christine McVie or Stevie Nicks crooning on it instead of Nutini. Heart Filled up is initially similarly stripped back as Abigale, before layering more electric instruments in. Like Afterneath, it feels like more like a building interlude than a fully fledged song.

After Shine A light is another crop of songs that close out the record. and while they're generally of the same quality as the rest of the record, the sequencing makes them feel kind of unnecessary as by this point the record has hit the length of the majority of pop releases and the song feels very much like it could be a finale to the record. Out of the remaining songs, my favourites are the last two songs, Take Me Take Mine, and Writer. Take Me Take Mine is a soothing soul tune where Paolo bares his heart and proclaims that he will always be there to sooth over all of the insecurities and worries the subject of the song has. The track ebbs and flows with washes of reverby guitar and piano. Writer is a cute little acoustic song that sort of breaks the fourth wall as the closer, as Paolo directly addresses us, the audience, about his role as a songwriter and the relationship between the two.

Perhaps the weakest songs on the record are actually the ones closest to being radio friendly. Petrified In Love and Desperation are jaunty indie tunes that stick out like a soar thumb amongst the passionate soul and bluesy soft rock of the rest of the record, and just feel a bit odd coming from Paolo at this age. They sound like songs written by a twenty-something, not someone in their mid thirties. They could've easily been cut, along with a couple of the other songs here to make the record tighter and more impactful. Give it a re-sequence to help with the pacing and it perhaps would've enjoyed it more than I currently do. However, the quality of the record is still consistent, so the fact that it's a bit long also doesn't impact it too much. Paolo is a great songwriter and these are good songs so I'm glad to have him back after the long hiatus.

 

Top Tracks: Radio, Through The Echoes, Acid Eyes, Lose It, Everywhere, Shine A Light, Take Me Take Mine, Writer

7/10

Phoebe Bridgers - "Punisher" (2020)

I know next to nothing about the indie folk scene, with my only experience with the genre being listening to Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane over the Sea once several years ago and not really getting it. However, Punisher kept cropping up high on loads of publications year end lists, and combined with the gorgeous cover art and seeing a friend listening to it on Spotify, I was intrigued enough to pop it on over Christmas. It's such a deep yet gentle record that it has been in my heavy rotation ever since, and I'm slowly sinking into its atmosphere and themes with every additional listen.

On the first few listens I was instantly gravitated to Bridgers' personal and introspective lyrics, that are jammed packed with evocative imagery mixing the mundane everyday with elements of morbidity, the supernatural, sci-fi and spirituality. This imagery is supported by really gentle but intricate folk instrumentation that's been produced in a washed out, ephemeral way that makes the record sound like a lucid summer daydream where time feels warped and reality feels blurred and smudgy (much like 2020 as a year). I wasn't as initially hot on the production of the record as I listened at home on my laptop speaker, as I thought it made the songs lose some of their individuality that was provided by the songwriting; but as I came back to uni and listened through a better speaker I realised that it sounds beautiful and actually a crucial element to the emotional intensity of these songs. It makes the slightest increase of clarity and intensity in the instrumentals feel so much more overwhelming. A great example of this is Halloween, a really haunting ballad where low rumbling drums pop in about half way through and just add so much tension to the track despite them being actually very gentle and restrained.

A few of the tracks include elements of chamber folk and chamber pop, making them easily the most uplifting and uptempo of the tracklist. The single Kyoto is this really cute indie rock tune where Phoebe opens singing about her day off from touring in the city, where she uses the idea of payphones being outdated to launch the track into her tumultuous relationship with her father. The track so effectively conveys the complexity of their relationship, flitting between emotions and scenarios. On the chorus she sings "I'm gonna kill you, if you don't beat me to it" backed by triumphant and grandiose horns, which provides a real emotional dissonance but also a sense of bitter-sweetness and joy and makes it effortlessly replay-able and enjoyable. ICU is similarly emotionally dissonant with an upbeat, uptempo swell to it, and on first listen it sounds like a cute love song about an imperfect messy relationship, yet the song is actually about a break-up where Phoebe continued to see this person all the time afterwards, with the title being a play on 'I See You' and intensive care units (ICUs).

The only other overtly loud and dramatic track is the closer I Know The End. The track is in essentially two parts, the first being one of the most soothing and gentle moments of the record. The tones are warm and Phoebe's vocals feel very tired and sleepy, and alongside the dislocated lyrics reflecting the mental confusion of global touring, it sounds like the record is winding down. However, towards the end of this section you can feel the intensity growing, before the track switches - Phoebe wakes up, blaring triumphant horns crash in and the lyrics become more anthemic as backing vocals come in. The track then starts to descend into madness as the horns become more and more dissonant and Bridger starts to wail and scream. It's such a contrast to the rest of the record and leaves a lasting impression that makes you just want to put it straight back on.

The rest of the record is comprised of very gentle, cerebral tracks which feel like they're slowly seeping into my bones. The record opens with the sinister and atmospheric DVD Menu which leads into the first proper track, Garden Song. The instrumental on the song is so watery and murky, with the only clear elements being Bridger's vocals and the plucked lead guitar. The track describes this garden that Bridger's explores as she introspects about herself and others. Halloween is one of my very favourites on the album, as Phoebe begins the song discussing how she hated living by a hospital with some really morbid imagery delivered in a semi-creepy deadpan way. The track then moves on to the idea of Halloween and costumes as something that she can hide behind like she feels the need to in her relationships. The instrumentation of the track is linear, starting with just an eerie plucked guitar before gradually building to its subtle crescendo. Chinese Satellite similarly has an entire verse dedicated to how Phoebe would go to the extremes of joining an evangelical church and picketing in the streets just to see this person, who has passed away, again. Savior Complex takes a more sarcastic approach to the themes of failing relationships. "I'm too tired, to have a pissing contest" she sings in the chorus. The sweet acoustic instrumentation and Phoebe's sincere vocals really compliment some of the more aggressive lines in this track.

Punisher is such a quality album with so much depth and subtlety to both the instrumentals and the lyrics and themes. It continues to grow on me with every listen, and feels so cathartic to listen all the way through. 

Top Tracks: DVD Menu, Garden Song, Kyoto, Halloween, Chinese Satellite, Savior Complex, ICU, I Know The End

9/10

Hozier - "Wasteland, Baby!" (2019)

I was initially incredibly disappointed by this record. Hozier's 2014 self titled debut was this intensely soulful release, packed full of blissful highs and deep, dark lows with a very twisted and sinister imagery regarding lust, religion and death. Last year he also dropped a great teaser EP for this release titled Nina Cried Power, so I was expecting good things from this. Although I feel the record is better than my initial reaction to it, it is not without its flaws which do bog down the enjoyment for me.

The album opens with the title track of last years EP, a stomping protest song featuring excellent vocals from the incredibly talented Mavis Staples. While I did really enjoy the song when I first heard it, over the subsequent listens of the EP and album I feel like I have got all I can out of the song and there's nothing new it can give me. I think this is probably due to the vagueness of the lyrics making it feel like it isn't really saying anything I can get behind, besides the general 'let's inspire people!'. The next track, Almost (Sweet Music), is where the problems start to show. The tune is this light, upbeat, poppy one; which in itself is fine. However the bass and drums are so overdone in the mix that it sounds somewhere in-between some kind of Ibiza club tune and one of those annoyingly ear-wormy Shaun Mendez singles.

This kind of awkward commercialisation of Hozier's style is rampant in the first half of the record. Movement is this album's attempt at the dark, brooding, building single (a la Take Me To Church). However this song feels so pristine and manufactured, without any of the sinister imagery which made those moments work on the first album. It sounds like someone trying to imitate Hozier's style without any of the nuance. The only truly great moment on the first half is No Plan, a slick song with a groovy bass about just living life and not worrying about a plan. Hozier's vocals soar above this effortlessly cool tune. All the edgeless commercialisation comes to a head in To Noise Making (Sing), a track about as cringily twee as a Train song.

Luckily after this point the album really regains some footing, and while not every song is a complete smash, there is a consistent level of quality the record maintains. Every song is at least decent. Highlights include the back to back folk due of As It Was and Shrike, and Dinner & Diatribes. As It Was is moody and dark, whereas Shrike (also featured on the Nina Cried Power EP) is much more relaxed. Both tracks are simple and restrained, allowing Hozier's soulful lyrics to shine. Dinner & Diatribes, on the other hand, is loud and frantic. The rising and falling guitar line and pounding drums give this tribal vibe to the track. I love the little synth melody which follows the last line of the chorus in this call and response style. It really adds to the intense atmosphere of the track. The album closes out with the title track, a quiet tune about two people falling in love in the midst of the apocalypse. Hozier's voice is buried in vibrato, making him a feel a subtler part of the track than usual. It's a hopeful note to end the record on.

Wasteland, Baby! is a strange album. It is so front-loaded with overproduced, commercial songs; and yet the the back half is consistently good. You can honestly feel the shift at the half way mark. Removing the radio-tailored nothing tracks would have made it a more enjoyable (and less bloated) listen.

Top Tracks: No Plan, As It Was, Shrike, Dinner & Diatribes, Wasteland, Baby!

6/10