Second time in one year! I’m on a roll! Here are reviews of albums by Caroline Polachek, the New Pornographers, and Black Country, New Road. It was right there in the title, man. I don’t like repeating myself.

Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
(February 14, 2023)

Polachek’s 2019 album Pang remains unplayed on my iPhone. I lump her in with the sleepy female singer-songwriters who I tend to unfairly dislike: Julian Holter, Faye Webster, Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, Half Waif, Phoebe Bridgers, Weyes Blood, Angel Olsen… Is that even accurate? Was Polachek’s music ever similar to any of these guys’? Am I an idiot?

Desire, I Want to Turn Into You fell within my radar after Pitchfork gave it a 8.7, and since I still get swayed by the publication like a pimple-faced hipster teenager thumbing through his mom’s record collection, I decided to give it a shot. I wasn’t impressed at first, honestly. I’m still not impressed, but I do like a fair bit of it. Some of these hooks are delicious, and Polachek’s range as a vocalist is a few steps above any of the previously mentioned artists. If I had to compare her vocal decisions to anyone, it would be Danny Elfman. There is a lot of wordless singing, naturally and fluidly moving between disparate pitches with ease. Occasionally bordering on yodeling. I don’t mind yodeling! Yodeling is hard to do!

Overall, this is a pure pop experience with electronic percussion, breathy singing, and strong melodies. Highlights include “Bunny is a Rider”, which I listened to about a thousand times on SiriusXMU because fuckin’ Josiah wouldn’t stop playing it. Within the context of the album, though, I learned to appreciate the song. Also my favorite, “Sunset”, features flamenco bounciness and a really cool vocal trill during the chorus. Then there are the little things, like those boops on beats 2 and 4 in “I Believe” and the overly happy bagpipes in “Blood and Butter”.

The final few tracks somewhat lose me. “Hopedrunk Everasking” is beautiful, yet sleepy (and Polachek needs to change the battery in her smoke alarm, Jesus Christ), as is “Butterfly Net”. And speaking of smoke alarm, “Smoke” is essentially a refrain of “Pretty In Possible”, which is cheating. And “Billions” has been floating around the radio since early 2022 so I’m sick of that one too.

I can see the hype! Desire… is a very enjoyable album. Here’s a fun fact: I was all like “wow, Polachek sounds like Grimes on ‘Fly to You'”, and then I saw who was featured on the song and then I was all like “lol”.

Early Verdict:

The New Pornographers – Continue as a Guest
(March 21, 2023)

I’m happy to be gifted with a new new new New Pornographers album, having shamefully only been a fan since 2019’s In the Morse Code of Brake Lights but spent a great majority of the last 3.5 years absorbing and memorizing much of their whole amazing catalog. If I may be bold for a moment, I stand firmly with the opinion that Neko Case has the best voice in all of indie rock. It would be the hill I want to die on, but I already have many hills to die on queued up.

I greatly respect the New Pornos’ ability to craft some of the catchiest twee-adjacent melodies this side of Belle & Sebastian, which is why I must declare, with a heavy heart, that Continue as a Guest didn’t entirely grab me. Oh sure, “Really Really Light” is a memorable opener with its hazy, smoky harmonies. And try to get the chorus of “Pontius Pilate’s Home Movies” out of your head once you hear it. You’ll be singing “Now you’re clearing the room just like Pontius Pilate/When he showed all his home movies/All of his friends yelling/’Pilate! Too soon!’” for the rest of the day! After that, there’s not too much to write home about. It’s disappointing how much most of the tracks feel like throwaways, maybe B-sides from …Brake Lights. You get another uptick with the gorgeous chorus of “Marie and the Undersea”, but then it peters out for the rest of the album, culminating in a low effort melodic refrain track at the end. Repeated listens don’t bring out many hidden nuances or revelations. Three really good tracks amid a collection of songs of moderate quality at best and at worst.

So, of course, you can look to the lyrics. They’re as smart as a whip as ever. The Pontius Pilate song has my takeaway line: “The sun kept on rising ’til it floated away“. “Bottle Episodes” likens life to a low-budget TV show filler episode and repeats that “There should be a word for this/With our command of all the romantic languages“. “Firework in the Falling Snow” likens life to a big, loud, conspicuous blast that fizzles out just as quickly.

Having written most of the songs during COVID, the band loses it’s playful edge and mires itself in moody melancholy. Perhaps this is what I find unsettling about a band that has been nothing but playful for the last 25 years. Maybe I think it just doesn’t suit them very well.

Early Verdict:

Black Country, New Road – Live at Bush Hall
(February 20, 2023)

Ugh. It’s frustrating. My favorite band of the 2020s has strayed from the path since their debut and they’re weaving in a direction that doesn’t satisfy my particular musical needs. I fell head over heels in love with For the first time. I wasn’t in love with Ants from Up There, but about half the tracks pack a cathartic punch. Now that de facto frontman and vocalist Isaac Wood had decided to quit his music career and bake cakes for a living, a new direction was mandatory. We have three vocalists now, presumably as insurance in case one of them follows Wood’s suit and has a nervous breakdown. Other than that, the band continues its foray into lavish proggy arrangements with the best damn virtuosity you’ll find in indie rock today. And it drives me nuts, because this isn’t what I want from the band. I want PALPABLE TENSION. I want PAIN AND SUFFERING. I want SKRONKY SAXOPHONES and WOMEN SAWING THEIR VIOLINS IN HALF. This stuff is too nice for me.

I love exactly two tracks. There’s the upbeat opener “Up Sound” with Jerry Lee Lewis piano-bangin’ that I THOUGHT was going to set the mood for the rest of the record. It doesn’t. I also like the only Lewis Evans-fronted track “Across the Pond Friend” because of its similarly upbeat nature. The rest of the live album is very forgettable melody-wise, which is the most important part of music to not be forgettable about.

I’m not going to take a complete dump all over this, because what Live at Bush Hall does to right is showcase an incredible band’s live sound, and it’s so close to their immaculately polished studio albums that you would not even believe that this was all recorded live if it weren’t for the clapping and cheering. The production is crisp, and not one of the band’s 45 members flubs a line, a note, a drum fill. I knew this band was impressive, but this is pretty fucking impressive even by the standards of impressiveness.

So this gets a big “Oh Well” face from me. I no longer look forward to the band’s direction, but at least I can look forward to the best playing you can hope for from a young rock band.

Early Verdict: