LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
Early listens don't yield a whole lot, but I can confidently say that this is a quality piece of work on the first listen. The baroque arrangements, the lovely interludes tucked away within each "song" that could be heard during Actor are scarce here, replaced by a lot of grit and electronic buzz. If anything, the tracks feel more fluid and unpredictable than ever though, often eschewing choruses (a good idea for her; they've never been her strong suit, and a couple of tracks still feature her chanting the song's title over and over and calling it a chorus) for passages that highlight her talent for arrangement as well as her chops as a guitarist, which are indeed confirmed at this point.
Favorite songs are difficult to pick out but (sadly) the songs we had already heard are probably the best; Cruel, Surgeon and Year of the Tiger are remarkable. There are a bunch of songs that still wander for me at this point, but all of them feature remarkable individual passages.
Though comparing one artist's creative path to another is usually inane and unhelpful, I would say this album is more Age of Adz than Illinois. Thankfully, she has a better grasp on economy than Sufjan does, because at 40 minutes I could easily play this over and over.
Favorite songs are difficult to pick out but (sadly) the songs we had already heard are probably the best; Cruel, Surgeon and Year of the Tiger are remarkable. There are a bunch of songs that still wander for me at this point, but all of them feature remarkable individual passages.
Though comparing one artist's creative path to another is usually inane and unhelpful, I would say this album is more Age of Adz than Illinois. Thankfully, she has a better grasp on economy than Sufjan does, because at 40 minutes I could easily play this over and over.