Kathleen Edwards – Billionaire: The music is as interesting and the lyrics as thought-provoking as anything Edwards has done, and the musicians’ performances are consistently exciting. Edwards lyrical choices have a couple of hiccups that tripped me up, though. Words like “currency” and “compact disc” tear me out of the reverie of the music by injecting technicality and time into a medium I want to be organic and timeless. The words are arguably necessary for Edwards’ storytelling—the line “if this feeling were currency / I would be a billionaire” conveys a beautiful sentiment—but they make me feel like I’m reading the WSJ rather than listening to music.
Teyana Taylor – Escape Room: I had to listen twice before I fully comprehended the narrative arc of this album, and I’m glad I did. Things I found odd and confusing on my first pass made perfect sense the second time through. That’s not to say this isn’t an odd and confusing album. “Long Time” has an irresistible hook that grinds to a halt after the first chorus, and “Back to Life” sounds like a plaintive R&B classic until it takes a jarring left-turn. At countless points throughout the record, Taylor makes artistic choices that are completely bonkers but, somehow, they work every fucking time. And therein lies my problem with Escape Room (and my second complaint about lyrics this week): Her overuse of “fuck” makes her pain and anger lose their fire. While the language of the opening track is brutally powerful, Taylor’s insistence of putting forth lines like “I want you to lose your fucking mind over me so I can lose my fucking mind over you” sounds like an adolescent who is trying to shock—SHOCK, I tell you—the world with their use of adult language. It’s like M.I.A.’s middle finger at the Super Bowl: She aims to be powerful but comes across like an inarticulate teenager. That complaint aside, though, Escape Room is a weird and creative album, and it’s a strong addition to the list of breakup-and-recovery records.
Winter – Adult Romantix: I made it through one song. It’s good at what it is, but I’d lost interest in shoegaze by about 1993 and Adult Romantix (or at least its opening track) does nothing to change that.
Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones: I’m continuing to try to understand how my assumptions about this record fit with its reality. Swordfishtrombones contains stunningly beautiful moments (like the guitar on “Shore Leave” and the bass on the title track), but the instrumentals seem pointless and the spoken word statements (like “Frank’s Wild Years”) quickly fade into novelty. I plan to listen to the rest of his Island records and his Anti catalog in the coming months, and I’m deeply interested to see where my feelings about Waits land.
Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department: Last year, I attempted to slowly unwrap TTPD but a combination of things—including overexposure and a half-hearted initial reaction—prevented me from ever discovering the album. I listened to the “New Heights” podcast this week, though, and when Taylor said TTPD is exactly the record she wanted to make, she provided a catalyst for me to go back with fresh ears and an open mind. I played the original record and it’s far better than I initially thought.
Old friends who made it into rotation this week: Loscil: Lake Fire; Joe Jackson: Body and Soul; Laufey: A Night at the Symphony: Hollywood Bowl
Record store finds this week: I picked up the “Indie Record Store” version of the new Laufey but I haven’t listened to it yet, and I also found a remix album of Erika de Casier that I didn’t know existed.