It’s one thing to craft a great song, but its another skill to create a cohesive album that takes a listener on a journey.
Here’s four recently released albums that we’ve been playing at OUTinPerth HQ, new records from Mika, Lucinda Williams, Juliana Barwick & Mary Lattimore and British trio PVA.
Mika
Hyperlove
★ ★ ★ ★
Mika slowly urges us into his new album Hyperlove with the title track, gentle piano, and his deep voice bringing us into his world. “You give me Hyperlove” he declares, as a robotic voice questions what love is?
Soon we’re plunged into the energetic single Modern Times, it’s up there with the huge songs that first bought Mika to fame almost two decades ago. It’s filled with dance beats, urgent piano chords and a pumping vocal. The party continues with Spinning Out, and the brilliant Excuses for Love.
The album continues with slices of pop perfection with All the Same, Dreams, Science Fiction Lover, and the more sedate Take Your Problems With You. Jangly guitar is an unexpected element in Nicotine and Mika launches into a song-a-long tune, and Eleven has a pumping dance beat but a lyric that triggers memory of Count Von Count. Album closer Immortal Love is catchy and memorable.
Mika brings a joyful feel to this new album, and it’s a fun listen.
Lucinda Williams
World’s Gone Wrong
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
On her sixteenth album Lucina Williams is angry with the world and not afraid to share her thoughts. The 73-year-old singer-songwriter is in a rocking mood and this is a rough, raw and real sound.
The first two tracks feature country singer Britney Spencer, opening up with The World’s Gone Wrong – a song clearly made for our modern times, it speaks about empty houses, homelessness, struggles with the cost of living and living in dark days.
It’s a theme the continues with Something’s Gotta Give which speaks about people being at breaking point, while things get a little mellower on the harmonica infused Low Life the stories of tackling poverty and depression continue.
How Much Did You Get For Your Soul? is an upbeat rockabilly tinged number, and So Much Trouble in The World sees an appearance from the legendary soul singer Mavis Staples. The bluesy rock continues with Sing Unburied Sing, Black Tears and Punchline. There’s a burst of positivity on Freedom Speaks and closing track We’ve Come Too Far Turn Around delves into a classic honey-tonk country vibe.
From start to finish this is a tight package of tunes that follow a theme and distinctive sound. If you’re not familiar with Williams previous work dive into her back catalogue.
Juliana Barwick & Mary Lattimore
Tragic Magic
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
It’s a match made in heaven, vocalist Juliana Barwick and harpist Mary Lattimore have similar styles of music that is ethereal, laid back and magical.
This is definitely the chillout album you’re looking for to relax and unwind with. Lattimore is a much lauded harp player whose approach to playing verges on psychedelic, and Barwick has gained a loyal following with her multi-layered vocals and ambient leaning sounds.
While this album features just seven songs, they are long compositions with many running for seven or eight minutes in length. Stardust stands out as something different, it opens up with bursts of synthesizer sounds, that gradually cascade over each other before a barrage of rambling beats and blurred sounds arrive, it’s incredibly beautiful and encapsulating.
This is a record to listen to on headphone and give your full attention, let it take you on a journey. Equally, put it on in the background for a chilled and atmospheric soundscape.
PVA
No More Like This
★ ★ ★
British trio PVA have released their second album No More Like This and its fully of hazy psychedelic dark club sounds that blur across different genres.
The band consists of Ella Harris, Josh Baxter and Louis Satchell, their first album came out on Ninja Tune, but they’ve since parted ways with the influential label.
The album opens up with Rain, a spoken word poem that greets us with a “Good Morning” soon a plodding piano and quirky beats arrive and a gentle chorus begins. The beats become more intricate and the sounds bend and blend together. Enough evokes the feel of an indie 90s anthem, distorted vocals, stumming base and a chanting chorus. Mate continues the mix of metallic sounds, humming electronics and laid back spoken word vocals.
The vibe continues with Send which a little more manic and energetic, but five songs in you wonder if all of the largely one-word-title tracks on this record are going to be in a similar vibe. Soon Send is building in intensity and suggesting the record does have somewhere to travel to. Next up is Anger Song, here the vocals become much more melodic against a foreboding melody.
The similar sound continues with Peel and Boyface, but Flood is a more gentle offering with overlapping vocals. The album finishes off with Okay a song filled with guitar reverb, before heading into Moon, which is filled with loud synths stabs, while closing track. This new album is much more sedate that their 2022 debut Blush but retains a similar aesthetic, and is let down by too many of the tunes sounding similar.
