Caroline Polachek dives into the contradictory crux of the human experience on Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, an album of breathtakingly original pop songs.
On ‘Desire, I Want To Turn Into You’, she offers up hope, catharsis and real euphoria. A record of love in its initial ravenous infatuated rumblings, and occasionally when it erupts into something bigger.
Polachek's sophomore effort centers on a need for closeness while pushing her sound into the stratosphere.
While 2019's shimmering Pang was rich with ideas but sometimes light on songcraft — Desire, I Want to Turn Into You feels like the arrival of Caroline Polachek, a statement of intent that finally lassos her myriad musical ambitions into something singular.
The tight 12-track collection is doe-eyed, confident, and sonically varied – not only is it wholly different from its predecessor, it’s a portrait of someone in love. From its opening screams welcoming the listener to her world, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You is an island where romance is meshed with clearly focus artistic vision.
With Desire, I Want to Turn into You, Polachek breaks free from outside expectations and transforms her inner anxieties into an intoxicating pop euphoria.
Desire, I Want To Turn Into You is Polocheks best collection thus far and that is saying a lot as her last release Pang is almost pure pop perfection. With this album, Polochek’s constant desire to dig deeper adds more depth to the songs than some of her precious work and it’s really revelatory stuff.
Her second album stands out as a glittering showcase for her encyclopedic musical knowledge and formidable voice.
Caroline Polachek does it again.
The end of what has been a convoluted rollout ... is a muddled album that seems less sure of itself than 2019’s Pang; this kind of maximalism involves walking a tightrope between gaudy and glorious, and Desire is poised one minute, wobbly the next.
Both Welcome to My Island and I Believe are true pop bangers, and Smoke has an arrestingly powerful bassline that melds beautifully with her shimmering voice. Still, there are enough missteps for my palate that keep this squarely in the “just fine” column and keep me scratching my head about its overall reception.
The follow-up to 2019’s ‘Pang’ is hindered by a lengthy rollout, but Polachek’s sheer ambition is never in doubt.
God I love being queer
Singer, songwriter, producer, geese screamer: Caroline Polachek. She’s been at this for a while, though you’d be forgiven if you thought she was a newer face, as this latest phase of her career feels entirely separated from what came before. She got her start in the indie pop duo Chairlift with Patrick Wimberly, and while they never had a huge hit single or album chart topper they still managed to garner a fairly decent following that’s only garnered ... read more
RANT TIME!!!
So, I'm usually not one to share personal stuff, but I will make an exception just this time. I'm very emotional right now, so this might be an incomprehensible mess, if you don't want to deal with that, just skip this one. I am gay. I have supressed that fact for most of my life, but I have come to terms with it by now. Still, I have never told anyone about it. It's pretty lame to come out as a 20 year old and it's even lamer to come out to people who I've never met, never will ... read more
The album starts with a horribly corny song about welcoming the listener to her island, that is actually her mind. It’s tacky and sets this thing up poorly in my opinion. Then she has this awful Blondie rap segment.
Vocals on this project are amazing. Caroline songs like an angel of the ocean. Her voice cuts and slices like butter, almost as if it is dancing with a mind of its own. The production is pretty great through the majority of this album as well. Also when this album is good, it ... read more
A very interesting album. It feels like a work of genius while also being catchy at the same time. I don't fall into the experience as much as I wish I did but its still a very decent listen.
1 | Welcome To My Island 3:52 | 88 |
2 | Pretty In Possible 3:36 | 84 |
3 | Bunny Is a Rider 3:13 | 85 |
4 | Sunset 2:42 | 88 |
5 | Crude Drawing Of An Angel 3:28 | 81 |
6 | I Believe 4:07 | 86 |
7 | Fly To You 4:05 | 82 |
8 | Blood And Butter 4:27 | 87 |
9 | Hopedrunk Everasking 3:19 | 77 |
10 | Butterfly Net 4:36 | 85 |
11 | Smoke 2:57 | 85 |
12 | Billions 4:57 | 89 |
#1 | / | DIY |
#1 | / | Dork |
#1 | / | Double J |
#1 | / | Exclaim! |
#1 | / | Les Inrocks |
#1 | / | OOR |
#2 | / | Clash |
#2 | / | God Is In The TV |
#2 | / | Pitchfork |
#2 | / | The New York Times: Lindsay Zoladz |