Clairo

Sling

Cottrill delivers her most innately beautiful and well-orchestrated album yet, co-producing Sling with one of contemporary pop’s most prominent producers, Jack Antonoff.

Moving on from the playful, DIY era of ‘Immunity’, Clairo is clearer now on who she is and who she wants to be.

While the cosy acoustic folk of Sling is indebted to her influences — Joni Mitchell, Carole King, the Carpenters — Cottrill makes it wholly her own; it’s the perfect habitat for her introspection.

Stoic and serene, ‘Sling’ is a brave new chapter that introduces a Clairo transformed.

Lavish arrangements and assorted musings converge on Claire Cottrill’s intimate second album.

Sling might lack the immediacy of its predecessor, but this particular work means so much more.

Overall, Sling is an album borne from a long year of reflective home recordings with an artist taking her next steps forward in a new direction.

Sling—while ultimately releasing mid-summer—presents a more melancholic side of Clairo that will undoubtedly gain momentum as we approach the autumn months.

She sounds mature and ambitious, but also like she’s back in that bedroom, holding her songs up to your ear with the lightest touch.

At its heart, Sling is a record about simultaneously embracing and remaining horrified by the responsibilities and realities of growing up.

The album reveals more of itself with each spin, like a shyly flamboyant bird. Little changes make themselves known – choppy jazz, creaking acoustics, the kind of piano confessionals heard in an after-hours bar – and the small-scale hops reflect the album’s gentle yet bold leap forward.