I’m actually way too excited about this album. There’s
pretty much no way I won’t be disappointed. Look at the cover…I’m already
disappointed. I’m glad Lorde commissioned an angsty can’t fall asleep portrait
from a local high schooler but it’s not a good album cover. Or maybe it is for
the music on the album. I don’t know yet, but I will in a second.
Green Light
Crap – I think I heard part of this song before. I hate that
with a new album. She’s so angry. Why is she so angry? This is awfully
aggressive. Hahaha! When she tries to go to deep-voiced growl for “I hear
sounds in my mind” they probably could have added some production tricks so it
wouldn’t sound so lame. “Sometimes I wake up in a different bedroom”? As far as
I can tell this is the angry drunk but now I’m sad post-party anthem. It’s not
entirely un-catchy, but it doesn’t have a lot of what I love about the first
Lorde album. And I do love it.
Sober
Another party song? The intro to this is trying really hard
to be weird but I don’t hate it. But if this whole album is about drinking and
partying I’m probably not going to identify with it too heavily. It was the
tone of the first album that won me over and not necessarily the lyrics so I’ll
stick with it. This song is pretty bombastic like the first one though and
while I can definitely enjoy it I’m hoping that all this party comedown talk
turns to more sedate, pulsing, uncomfortable introspection. So I basically
either want it to be How to Dress Well. Yuck. I hate the hand clap-y last part
of this song. I hope there are at least a few songs where there’s not a backing
vocal track with four people singing the same thing.
Homemade Dynamite
I think this is probably closest to what I’m looking so far
but it’s still a ways away. SO MUCH PARTY TALK. And there’s the multi-voice
chorus again. These songs are afraid for there to be any silence or held notes.
Her gun shooting sound effect with her voice is pretty endearing though. But
then that dumb “blowin’ shit up with homemade d-d-d-dynamite” refrain kicks
back in.
The Louvre
I hope this is actually The Proclaimers “I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)”. It’s
not. I like that it’s “The Louvre” by The Lorde. Although she should really
spell her name “Lourde”. There are some nice production tricks in this song,
even if it’s doing the annoying dance song thing of talking about dancing as if
people won’t know they’re supposed to be dancing unless they’re constantly
reminded and encouraged. Solid bassline in this song. Does everything stop a
minute before the end of the song because everyone is tired of dancing.
COOLDOWN EXERCISES FOR THE LAST MINUTE, PEOPLE
Liability
For all my complaining I’m actually enjoying this pretty
well. Piano intro followed by vocals…her vocals are still too loud. I like it
better when you can hear her but her voice dodges in and out of sparse sounds
like it’s got something it needs to say to you but it’s also a little awkward
and doesn’t quite know how to say it all at once. That’s not happening her.
What the crap is this toy nonsense? OK, this song is dumb. Too bad because the
piano ballad is really a chance to shine.
Hard Feelings/Loveless
Finger snaps. Do you remember finger snaps? They were on the
last album. These finger snaps are a little rounder sounding, and they’re
playing 80s arcade games if the sound effects are any indication. Those aren’t
the only 80s things jumping all over this song but I can ignore them – I think
this is my favorite song so far. It’s sparse enough and has some interesting
layers. It’s probably going to start shouting at me about drinking and partying
and dancing soon but it’s doing pretty well so far and I have to give credit to
any song over five minutes on a party/pop album. Although I don’t know if it
counts if the “/” in the title actually means that they just forgot to put a
track break in and instead put five seconds of silence in one longer track.
Because the last two minutes are absolutely a different song. Where she says a
bad word so you know she’s serious. Wait, it’s fading out at 90 seconds into a
two-minute song? This must mean something. I like spelling in songs. I like
spelling in general.
Sober II (Melodrama)
The symphony is going to tell me to party hard. I just know
it. The jump to piano/vocal is actually pretty nice since it’s starting to
bring together the earlier parts of the album. And then the strings come in.
More “F” words. So serious. The build of this is really solid though. I’m two
minutes in and really wishing this song was more than three minutes long.
Especially since the last 30 seconds is just highvoice chanting the name of the
album over and over.
Writer In The Dark
WOW LOUD VOCALS. Is this the obligatory writer’s block song?
Huh, maybe not. She has a leg up on Bill Callahan right now then. Just
piano/vocal/finger snaps and boy I really like the melody and the way they
executed the chorale effect. The echoes are good too. At first I thought the
music was playing out of my phone speaker as well as my headphones so A+
production on this one.
Supercut
The way this song opens makes me think of every single pop
song from 1996. Does anyone who isn’t into film or is a celebrity know what a “supercut”
even is? I happen to fall into at least one of those categories but there are
plenty of people who probably think she’s talking about cheap haircuts. “It’s
just a Great Clips of us” doesn’t work as well but now I hope it happens in
this song. This song is pretty boring. Does Lorde spend her nights drunk and
her days fighting with lovers? Still boring. Jesus…the fade out lasted almost a
minute.
Liability (Reprise)
Didn’t way more albums used to have reprises? Did that die
off because the label called Reprise died? Oh wait – they’re still alive. I
just don’t listen to any of their artists. This song was over before I could
form an opinion. Mostly because I was too busy learning that Seal is still
releasing albums. On Reprise Records.
Perfect Places
This album is losing me. This song is mostly a bunch of
people shouting together. It sounds like they’re having an argument with a
synthesizer. OK and now it’s done. That was a pretty weak way to close the
album.
Final rating: I was all set to give this four Lorde echoes
out of five because it managed to entertain me most of the way through but
those last three songs knocked off half a Lorde. Three-and-a-half Lordes out of five. We have a real mess on our
hands. Oh Lourde.
Download links:
Omerta.is
Crocko
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