Rapid Fire Reviews: Spoonful of Indie With a Sprinkle of Synth Pop
There's a hundred million trillion albums that came out this year that I want to review and there's no way I'll have time to cover all of them. Coming off a slow week I'll jump on the opportunity to cover a few of the more talked about indie pop, pop rock, synth pop, parallel records that don't really have a ton to do with each other. But hey whatever checks the box right.
Screen Violence - Chvrches
Like many people I was incredibly impressed with Chvrches 2013 debut The Bones Of What You Believe which delivered catchy synth pop but with a distinctly loud edge edge that made for high impact tracks throughout. Since then I've been less and less impressed with each Chvrches release culminating with their third album in 2018, Love Is Dead and a truly obnoxious Marshmello collaboration Here With Me a year later. I was pretty hesitant going into Screen Violence given that I thought the singles were a pretty mixed bag. With that being said I did thing that How Not To Drown which features The Cure's Robert Smith of all people was one of the bands best singles in years. While this record is certainly a step in the right direction from their last it fails to have the truly explosive moments that once made Chvches so unique. The record is certainly loud as they try and execute the formula but most of the hooks here are on the forgettable side. The instrumentals are pretty immediate throughout the record and they're definitely my favorite part of the experience but without any meaningful builds it's hard to craft anything in the same universe as a song like The Mother We Share or Gun. Thankfully the record provides a few highlights and doesn't overstay it's welcome, I like these songs even if I think just a few changes here and there could have made for drastic improvements.
Mythopoetics - Half Waif
I've been keeping an eye on Half Waif since 2018's Lavender because, well duh. But with last years The Caretaker I saw more critical attention in the direction of Half Waif rather than just the indie fans you'd expect. Combine this with a pretty close connection to Pinegrove who had a revitalization of their own last year and I was at least curious in what Nandi would deliver on Mythopoetics. The record does manage to live up to its name and presents a more reserved and folk inspired set of tracks than on previous albums. The distinctive synth tones and versatile vocals that fans expect are certainly still present here but things have shifted genre wise. The stripped back nature of the record does cause it go sound a bit samey even across just 36 minutes, but there are plenty of worthwhile individual moments throughout. Highlight tracks features loud imposing piano and raw strained vocal performances that really draw the emotion out of some of the records best songs. The record does have a few catchy hooks to be found but for the most part it's content to rely really heavily on songwriting which can lead to some major inconsistencies. Another one of the shortcomings of the record is just how much it sounds like so much other singer-songwriter music. Given how over-inflated that genre is right now it's hard to be distinct and the synth pop background certainly helps the record stay instrumentally recognizable. For the most part I just find the lack of truly memorable song topics, hooks and lyrics to be a bit of a drag on the record when all is said and done. 6/10
Who Am I? - Pale Waves
Pale Waves are a British pop rock act who, like every British pop rock band, have a connection to The 1975. They first blew up a few years ago though to a far lesser degree here in the states. This sophomore album came out all the way back in February and I decided to just sit on it until the right opportunity came up. That felt like it would never happen after I reviewed another pop rock act with 1975 connections earlier this year on the absolutely horrendous Beabadoobee EP. Ultimately even though I don't really like Who Am I? I am glad that I gave it a more focused listen as a textbook example of how short-lived pop trends are. This record is only 7 months old and yet the nostalgia upon which it is entirely constructed is already so dated. This record is about as direct 90's worship as you can get without literally being someone who was popular in the 90's. Every other song here sounds like it was lifted from the leftovers of Jagged Little Pill and spiced up with some millennial lingo and flirtatious sexuality. Don't take that the wrong way I think most of you know that I love Alanis Morrissette and am known to be pretty flirty, but this all feels so contrived. None of these songs feel written by someone who genuinely cares about the stories or themes their built on, part of which is supported by the painfully almost desperately tame instrumentals. Indie fans who don't know what fun is tend to attack The 1975 for being to clean or polished or whatever, but this is like The 1975 after an expensive car wash. The record isn't horrible there are some hooks I like and the lead singer Heather actually musters a pretty distinctive attitude vocals a few times, but there's a bigger reason who it already sounds so ancient. If you've watched a Tik Tok, looked at the Billboard charts or listened to any of the new Halsey album you know that 2000's pop punk revivalism is in full swing in the Olivia Rodrigo world of pop music. Frankly it's been pretty great to see tracks like Brutal achieve their success this year but boy it hasn't been kind to Pale Waves. It's not like if I had reviewed this record in September it would have been any higher of a score, but it just feels all the more improbable that anybody will be listening to or caring about any of these songs next year. 4/10
