on the pulse - 2020 - week 19 - feel high on fire

I get the feeling this might wind up a peculiar episode, given I’ve already covered two of the albums on the docket at length - and you should all go check out those solo reviews, because I had a lot to say and the albums are absolutely fantastic… but no more wasting time, let’s get On The Pulse!

Perfume Genius - Set My Heart On Fire Immediately - oh, I was looking forward to this one, so much so that I wound up making an entire separate video exploring my thoughts on it! I will say it doesn’t quite hit the glorious highs of No Shape - there’s stylistic experimentation on that project that this can’t quite touch - but I like the promise explored by Hadreas’ more outward-looking songwriting and contentedness that led to one of his most cohesive and enjoyable projects to date. 9/10, the highest of my recommendations, this is something beautiful.

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Reunions - And on the topic of albums I was so excited to hear and take in, I also did a separate review for this as well - a strikingly potent, unstable alternative country project that is getting hit for being “too political” in a charged way… because apparently empathy is political now. Whatever, this is some stellar alternative country from one of the best singer-songwriters of the past decade, light 9/10, the highest of my recommendations!

Emma Blackery - My Arms Are Open - so we actually got two EPs released by YouTube pop acts that I like more than the general public, so let’s start with the one I’d argue has a little less buzz. Now I’d argue Emma Blackery is a solid and nuanced songwriter even if she can wear her influences a little too prominently in the execution, the most obvious being CHVRCHES and Taylor Swift, and if anything, that’s more true here than on Villains, especially in her vocal affectations. That’s not a bad thing, but when the production remains pretty soft around the edges with its gentle beats and ebbing swells of synth and even light guitar, the influences come through more starkly. That said, I still like her writing: the title of the EP is indicative of the loose theme, both in the challenge to her detractors to come at her, but also an expression of vulnerability and intimacy towards a potential new partner, and the subtle but lovestruck ‘History Of Touches’ is a really pretty moment that captures the latter. Now if anything, this feels even smaller and safer than her last project, but given that it’s an EP released in a time like this… yeah, it’s still enjoyable, especially as you can tell in the production there is more polish, so… light 7/10. But on a similar arc…

Gabbie Hanna - Bad Karma - talking about Gabbie Hanna on YouTube these days can be awkward as a critic, because it now comes with the ugly asterisk of her ‘drama’, which she tried to shut down in an expansive and seemingly well-sourced video the evening before she released this… only to continue to make explicit reference to it on the EP and in her music videos. If this was a plan to shut this down entirely and have the ‘final word’ as what seems to be the arc of the EP… well, it went about as well as when anyone tries to get the last word in the age of video responses and tabloid channels, so I’m not sure this goes away, but is the project good in the mean time? Well, yes and no - Gabbie has always positioned herself as a half-step away from the drama where she’s not an instigator, and yet a lot of it falls on her and she doesn’t handle it all that well due to near-omnipresent self-doubt and depression. It’s why most of the EP could be framed as addressing herself as much as any potential target… but juxtaposed with recent events does seem a little more coy and calculated than it really should, and that doesn’t really help support the emotional arc, even if I do think her own questions of happiness on the final track are prety sweet in how she eventually allows it for herself. That said, as much as I like Gabbie’s huskier tones I do think this project feels a little rushed and slapdash at spots - songs like ‘Dandelion’ and ‘Glass House’ seem to stop abruptly, in the latter case before it could really explode, some of the vocal layering feels inconsistent in accommodating for Gabbie’s full vocal range, there’s nothing here that has the sheer impact of her best songs, and while this project feels more playful in both light and darkness which can aid the melodrama, it’s often at cross-purposes to the heavier moments like ‘Special’, which doesn’t help the overall tone. But again, this feels like a snapshot of a moment than a fully developed album, and I’m looking forward to hearing more of that stylistic diversity and more robust tones she did say was coming, so for what this is… extremely light 7/10, mostly for fans, but if you’re looking to give her a chance, it’s worth it.

I’m Glad It’s You - Every Sun, Every Moon - You know, if you’re looking to kill my fondness for a trend - in this case midwestern emo - the fastest way to do it is to keep requesting albums that are so utterly milquetoast in the genre that I’m left without a lot to say. And yes, I know that’s not entirely fair about I’m Glad It’s You, as this sophomore album was inspired by the accidental death of their videographer and I will say the sound has improved slightly from a very tepid and sloppily mixed debut. But here’s a harsh truth that I’ve referenced before: just referencing a personal tragedy in your content might win a moment of initial sympathy, but if it’s not conveyed well, I’m not going to feel much of an emotional connection, and Kelley Bader just does not impress me as a singer. He’s opting for more restrained, sensitive clean vocals, but his timbre and tone is not all that unique and he’s not placed in the mix in a way to accentuate his presence, which might have been the point if you’re trying to accentuate homespun loneliness, but this album doesn’t have much in the way of distinctive atmosphere beyond a very standard, polished adult-alternative/emo approach ripping off Death Cab for Cutie in 2006, only with less interesting melodies - and that’s before additional female vocals slide in! I have other complaints - the mixing of the guitar leads and cymbals is still messier than it should be when the production is otherwise this clean, a lot of the keyboards feel oddly flat whenever they slide in, I keep waiting for a greater sense I’m not convinced their frontman can deliver - but I think my biggest issue comes in the arc of the album where nearly every song is confronting the grief, regret, and longing for closure that comes with dealing with death, namely that ultimately every story circles around our protagonist and we get no greater detail about the person who actually died - which yes, is common, but when written in such generalities it winds up feeling myopic and thin. As a whole, I can’t say it’s not generally pleasant, but in going broad there’s very little distinctive appeal, so… light 5/10

Paradise Lost - Obsidian - You ever hear those bands where you understand intellectually why they have a cult following or an established legacy… but at the same time have so little emotional resonance with you that you that there’s still a doubt in your mind? That was my experience going through the back catalog of Paradise Lost, one of the most long-running and stable metal acts that have straddled classic metal, death metal, doom metal, and even some flashes of gothic synthpop and alternative metal when that was a brief thing. They’re over thirty years in, and I’ve heard their “classic” albums… and at best I think I get the appeal, but they’re not for me. It’s frustrating but I’d argue their poppier albums revealed my baseline problems with them beyond the fact that I just don’t tend to like a lot of the gloomier side of doom metal: the hooks are not particularly gripping across albums that feel longer than they are, the lyrics fall towards overdone cliches, the band’s sound has occasionally felt trend-chasing, and frontman Nick Holmes… well, let’s just say I’m happy he’s no longer doing that James Hetfield impression. Now in recent albums they’ve trended towards darker, heavier, more grisly tones which they’ve called going back to their roots, especially on their last album Medusa, and it’s hard not to feel like this is just a lot more of the same. My point is that if you’re a Paradise Lost fan you’re familiar with the sound and this album offers not much in the way of surprises or great variation - the guitarwork remains the greatest selling point off the fat, murky basslines and more developed drumlines, either with chilly reverb or thicker crunch that doesn’t have a ton of unique atmosphere or depth or smolder, but can at least capture that downbeat mood efffectively and deliver good solos, especially if some strings slide in? But then I hit the roadblock of how relentlessly downbeat the entire damn thing is - not counting the twinkling, symphonic-leaning passages where you’d think they’d have more fun given how silly they can sound - and where fans will say, ‘Mark, it’s doom metal with a gothic twist, it’s supposed to be depressing’, but here’s the thing: if I’m going for truly crushing, downbeat metal, you’d expect the atmosphere to be suffocating and isolating, but Paradise Lost lean on gleaming solos and the occasional hook… but not enough where they have explosive classic metal intensity or catchiness. This places them at an odd intersection point between subgenres but not picking up enough of their strengths… and the lyrics don’t help, an increasingly one-dimensional wallow in dreary nihilism with a pseudo-religious angle creeping around some of these tracks that wears out its welcome really fast, even as they try to deconstruct it. And look, if that’s your thing, I’m sure you’ll find plenty to like with this - cuts like ‘Serenity’, ‘Hear The Night’, and ‘The Devil Embraced’ did mostly stick for me on some level - but beyond that… eh, light 6/10, really for the fans this late in their career, just not for me.

Charli XCX - how i’m feeling now - Am I the only who feels like we’re getting a Charli XCX album earlier than I would expect? I get that she’s always had a quick turnaround time, especially as she’s slid towards PC music experimentation, but to have another homegrown project in the works was a little startling, even if the best way to consider it would be as a softer, less flashy contemporary to Charli from last year to match the current climate. And that’s kind of what we got - still a lot of the PC Music production with its blaring, chrome-plated synths, distorted vocals, and wonky mastering, it’s not aiming for the same sort of glorious bombast and as such you’re not going to get a song as anthemic as ‘Blame It On Your Love’, but it’s just as splashy, futuristic, and grindingly technicolour. And once again, it feels like one of those albums that if I liked the PC Music approach to synth melodies and mastering I’d probably get behind this more, because a smaller focus does mean more of these songs get to rely on a central melody and not blown-out dance floor drops, and while I think an opportunity was missed for Charli XCX to juxtapose organic expressiveness with all the flash, she’s making her proto e-girl presence all the more human, especially on this project where she’s bored, restless, missing her friends, looking for the party, and trying to find security with her boyfriend even as her own self-doubt rages, and it’s that uncertain humanity that gives the album its core and best songs. But to repeat a lot of what I’ve said with Charli XCX, my separation comes with not always getting on-board with the PC music textures in the production, and the song I like most on this project ‘i finally understand’ was produced by Palmistry, who is only adjacent to that camp. I dunno, I’ve not yet been completely won over by a Charli XCX project yet outside of snippets, and while I do hear melodic growth on this project and get how well it fits this time and place, I’m not quite there yet. Solid 7/10

Future - High Off Life - here’s the great benefit to a series like this: I can give Future about as much time as he deserves, a borderline postscript at the end of my video because what is there even left to say? There’s no surprises, there’s no visceral intensity, there’s very little in the way of an interesting tune or atmosphere, most of which is buried behind the omnipresent trap skitter - and when it does show up somehow Future picks some of the most awkward tumbling cascades or plucking squonks imaginable - and while I’d argue Future’s been on autopilot the past few projects, here it’s obvious and pretty unflattering. How in the Nine Hells is the percussion mixing getting worse with each album to sound even more flat and cheap, which doesn’t match any of the opulence and brand names he continues to brag about? The best thing I can say about this project is that there’s a few guest appearances that sound okay enough - the YoungBoy Never Broke Again interplay led to a decent hook and for as stupid as ‘All Bad’ is with Lil Uzi Vert, it’s got energy - and outside of that… give me ‘Up The River’ for its Rod Wave-esque piano line - which along with ‘Last Name’ shows exactly how much he’s jacking from that style - and ‘Posted With Demons’ for pure trashiness. Pitch the rest - light 4/10, you will forget this came out this year, much like his last album.