Dublin’s Orla Gartland tackles music with a chaotic mix of pop with punk noise and kaleidoscopic electronica, resulting in something familiar and foreign in all the right ways. With lyrics as brash as her production, this is a record for when you want to experience life as intensely as possible. There’s an abrasive-yet-infectious approach to “Sound of Letting Go” that never lets you get comfortable but easily pulls you into its combustive fury, letting its short rush hit you like a freight train. The rolling electronic of “Little Chaos” blends indie pop into more frantic and unhinged rock, flying off the handle in each chorus in the best way. With Declan McKenna in tow on “Late to the Party,” Gartland has a more cheeky and fun pop approach mixing angular riffs with her demonic aesthetics. “Kiss Ur Face Forever” rounds out this sound with a triumphant roar of excited guitar shredding, screaming love into the burning fires of the universe.
Stuffed with rustic charm, Satellite Birdhouse bringing a longing for more time to spend with someone on “One More Afternoon.” There’s a warmth and wholesome charm to the lush detail that the band paints across this song, bringing you into a fully realized vision of those times past, and how they could be again. The sense of loss for a relative is palpable, particularly in the specific language and notes of wartime, with the whole arrangement perhaps even playing to the sensibilities of the family member the band are thinking of.
Always one for fascinating album tones, 070 Shake has brought their blown-out music forward on their latest release. Fantastical yet frightening, this album paints with a visceral, yet dazzling brush that will send your imagination to the moon. Warping its piano ballad through gospel, rock, demented chords, and jazzy punches, “Sin” opens the album with a momentous energy, setting the stage for the range and emotional weight to come. The whole tone gets darker and more groaning on “Elephant,” as the music blends aesthetics that would fit in both Molchat Doma and Depeche Mode songs with soaring, moody synth pop growls. There’s a more triumphant stride to “Battlefield,” with the guitars more chipper and the gargantuan drums sounds giving 070 Shake a kind of euphoric high. There’s a fun doo-wop through back on “Winter Baby/New Jersey Blues” that opens into a warped homage of a different 60s vintage (a touch of Beach Boys perhaps), and shows a kind romantic, yet darkly focused side of the singer.
Bridging radio country-pop with more down to earth writing, Jason Kirkness brings a well-rounded package on his latest album. Moving through a moment of self-reflection of going too far and losing oneself, “What’s Wrong With Me,” balances trying to catch yourself in your dark stumbles, with letting small imperfections go, particularly in love. There’s a more overt pop drive, and overall more gripping mix of percussion and instrumental riffs on “Anywhere the Night Goes,” where Kirkness makes a well-finessed pop track with legs, and acoustic depth. Kirkness even goes into something funkier on “A Little Party,” where he celebrates cutting loose with some powerful liquor and tries to get everyone to take it easy for once. With the guitar chunking along on “Over My Head,” there’s a radio-ready pop single, with the additional banjo, slide and synth flourishes giving the track its real distinctive character over similar tracks.
Apart from her work in the Pixies and the Breeders, Kim Deal takes a more orchestral suite of influences under the hood on her latest solo album. While fascinating and pleasing in the way Deal brings life to a symphonic range, her distorted tracks tend to bring the heat for reasons you wouldn’t quite expect, even from Deal. “Nobody Loves You More” swings with strings and bouncy brass, playing like a cinematic theme at times, with Deal commanding the winds around her through this beautiful opener. The core charge of “Coast” carries the soul of Deal’s usual work, while the airy, and more symphonic tones of her band bring her style out in a new light, which loses edge and gains a kind of harmonic brilliance and romance. Deal takes a bigger swing with the twisted electronica of “Crystal Breath,” mixing a kind of funky dance rush with clanky guitar runs and shrieks that keep it off-centre. Things remain uneasy on “Big Ben Beat,” as she lets the fuzzy guitars drive the track, and Deal leans into her punk roots harder than anything else here.
