Elizabeth brings elastic melodies with a whiff of self-destruction.Credit:Laura Du Ve.
DREAM POP
Elizabeth
THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF NATURE (Our Golden Friend)
★★★★
On her last record, Her, as frontwoman of Totally Mild, Elizabeth Mitchell was a newlywed struggling to balance personal ambition with romantic commitment. “I disappear when I’m with you,” she sings of that time, wavering between bliss and resentment. In the months since releasing Her, the Melbourne-based songwriter has gone through the breakdown not only of her band, but of her whirlwind relationship. On this solo outing Mitchell reimagines herself as a “queer pop anti-heroine”, adopting the pout of a jaded divorcee: “Cigarette in hand, whiskey always in demand.” Diaphanous and unsettling, the album plays like a prom-night fever dream, drawing equally from Lana Del Rey’s melancholic femme-fatale persona and the hermetic fantasies of David Lynch. Although slow-paced, Mitchell’s melodies are elastic, and the whiff of self-destruction gives such highlights of the album as Here, I Want You and Parties an intoxicating edge. “Why do all the bad things feel so good,” she sighs, tormented by thoughts of her ex-wife. By sublimating these recollections into glossy soft rock, Mitchell makes the memory of domestic life more seductive than the reality. ANNIE TOLLER
HIP-HOP
Kanye West
JESUS IS KING (GOOD/Def Jam)
★★★★
Every Kanye West album rollout is chaotic, none more so than this. Following his divisive "make America great again" heel-turn, West turned to the church, using gospel music to try to win back a retreating fan-base. His weekly Sunday service performances (starring a live choir, throwback hits and Christian ardour) set up shop in Calabasas. Now these elements culminate in a turbulent, surprisingly dynamic, 27-minute opus from the Chicago rapper. Without shedding his Trumpian politics or perfunctory opinions on US history, West voices his controversial stance against heavenly organs and entry-level bible verses. Despite his drawing comparisons between church and Chik-fil-A (Closed on Sunday) and making concessions for his overpriced merchandise (On God), it’s hard to deny that West’s flow is sharp and his production crisper than ever. On God, Follow God and Use This Gospel (featuring Clipse) brim with goosebump-inducing melodies and booming drum machines, while Everything We Need (with Ty Dolla $ign) is exuberantly orchestral, harking back to his work with Bon Iver. Kanye’s most frustrating quality is his refusal to apologise – relying instead on the redeeming power of his music. KISH LAL
JAZZ
Anat Cohen Tentet
TRIPLE HELIX (Anzic/Birdland)
★★★★
This one tears up the rulebook. Forget all preconceptions of what a large jazz band sounds like, and listen to the sonic vistas that New York's Anat Cohen Tentet opens up with, including on the title track, a 22-minute concerto for clarinet and ensemble. Composed by musical director Oded Lev-Ari, this places Cohen's clarinet within startling contexts, melding Jewish, Middle Eastern, impressionistic and jazzy elements into a seamless whole. Cohen, who rises to challenges demanding an array of techniques, can play with woody sweetness at the barest whisper, or coarsen her sound, loosen her tongue and unleash the boisterous side of her instrument, which is native to the Jewish, Gypsy and Turkish traditions, among others. Even more seductive is her playing on her own Miri, where she wraps sadness in a blanket and rocks it to sleep. The band, meanwhile, kicks goals in terms of energy, groove, dynamics and, most tellingly, textural diversity. The only saxophone is Owen Broder's baritone, and, beyond the brass and rhythm section, this can find itself in company with a cello (Christopher Hoffman), accordion (pianist Vitor Goncalves), vibraphone (James Shipp) or guitar (the brilliant Sheryl Bailey). JOHN SHAND
IRISH
Martin Hayes & Brooklyn Rider
THE BUTTERFLY (In a Circle)
★★★★★
The greatest musicians and singers in any idiom share three qualities: beauty of sound, compelling phrasing and emotional truth. That the Irish fiddler Martin Hayes is so blessed has been quietly evident for decades, whether in his duo with guitarist Dennis Cahill or in the otherworldly quintet that is the Gloaming. Irish music is, for Hayes, not so much about a preoccupation with authenticity, as excavating deep mysteries. This collaboration with the highly credentialed New York string quartet Brooklyn Rider – chosen by Philip Glass to record his complete quartets – is the latest instalment. All but two of the pieces (one by Hayes) are Irish traditionals, scored by five arrangers to create string quartet contexts in which Hayes' glorious tone, emotional profundity and legato articulation of lines (nonetheless instilled with phenomenal momentum) all shine. The arrangements are as ingenious as the performances are breathtaking. Violinists Johnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen, violist Nicholas Cords and cellist Michael Nicolas craft a limpid ensemble sound through which you absorb Hayes' laments and gentle statements of joy. Port Na Bpucai is as potent as any music you will hear this year. JOHN SHAND
ELECTRONICA
Black Marble
BIGGER THAN LIFE (Sacred Bones)
★★★½
Bigger than Life is the sound of Chris Stewart adjusting to a new city (Los Angeles), public transport (his car died in transit), and the timid hope of fresh starts. Performed and produced entirely by Stewart, his third studio album as Black Marble is a strangely comforting collection of lo-fi, analogue, 1980s nostalgia. It is intensely observational and at times quietly desolate, yet miraculously devoid of self-indulgence. The staccato synth of One Eye Open captures the hustle and bustle of LA from a quiet vantage point. Feels shimmers wistfully: “I wish I could tell where you’re from/Cause I know how to read someone”. Without the snappy drumbeats of 2016’s It’s Immaterial, it is not until the sixth track (Grey Eyeliner) that we settle back into indie-pop grooves and crisp beats. In fact from here on in it is a more solid record – highlighted, perhaps, by the fragility of the first half. Stewart’s vocals sound braver, sitting further forward in the mix than on previous albums. The result is rewarding, yet familiar: the vocal hooks are so stylistically consistent that they are almost self-plagiarism, but Stewart takes the reins of these tracks in a way he hasn’t done before. JESSIE CUNNIFFE
INDIE POP
Rex Orange County
PONY (Sony)
★★★½
Lyrical cognitive dissonance partnered with sporadic themes of happiness and introspection are shining features of Rex Orange County’s previous work, his deep analysis of a young man in love best represented best by reverb-heavy, augmented electric piano chords, accurately embodying a common human experience. While this rhetoric continues on Pony, the major label production influence can make Rex’s third effort hard to digest. Lyrics like “I had a year that nearly sent me off the edge” on 10/10 feel like frustration with mainstream success masked as an apology to fans for musical absence. Face to Face reveals a defeated Rex (fed up with homesickness) employing a cheerful, upbeat motif that doesn’t represent his true artistic integrity. A shift back to blue-eyed soul roots on Always paints a different picture, though, with brass underpinning gorgeously melodic vocals that, while sometimes feeling strained, are doused in believably raw emotion. Pluto Projector makes use of stunning orchestral aesthetics towards the end, the lyrics a beautiful ode to Rex’s long-time girlfriend. What Pony lacks in self-belief it makes up for in solid determination and almost unrivalled song-writing methodology. BENJAMIN POTTER
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