It’s not an easy listen, but a brave, beautiful and affecting album – an attempt to find order in chaos that, as she wishes for it, offers a “crutch” to the heartbroken.
With ‘Jenny Death’, they’ve made their most accessible album to date.
Overflowing with stately songwriting and lyrical craftsmanship, ‘How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful’ makes for a restrained but joyful return, and a collection that will last long after Welch’s broken bones are mended.
Has Lamar followed a classic with another classic? Not quite, but in laying his demons and his contradictions bare, he has stayed true to his formidable talent.
The songs on ‘No Cities To Love’ are short, taut and lethal, harking back, if anything, to their earliest albums. But they’re more complete songwriters now, and there isn’t a track on ‘No Cities To Love’ that doesn’t have a killer chorus.
‘Foil Deer’ sees Dupuis draw an emphatic line under her past ache for acceptance, angling her angst into sharp bursts of wiry college rock targeting the “riddle-rousing cowards” who made her that way.
No matter how desperate Sufjan gets ...he’s resolutely serene, his emotion swathed in glistening guitar tones and angelic harmonies, spooling out his genius as casually as breathing.
On sixth album – the ‘pop one' ... they give it their best shot while sticking firmly within their screamy garage punk parameters.
Even when ‘English Graffiti’ sounds like The Vaccines, it’s a kitschier, more colourful, hyper-stylised version.
Gloopy, orchestral and lovingly plumped up with strings and skronking brass ... it's driven by 29-year-old Jesso’s huge personality and sounds designed to stay with you.