The magnificent colours of melody

 Saurabh Chadha

Album of the month: Caribou — Suddenly (Merge)

Dan Snaith has carved a niche in electronic music for lush sounds, creative lyrics and his trademark soulful vocals. The title of Snaith’s latest album is inspired by a word that his young daughter loved repeating. The album opens with “Sister, a bouquet of sounds”, comprising synth plucks, overlapping guitar loops and poignant vocals, with inventive songwriting, “Sister, I promise you I’m changing / you’ve heard broken promises, I know / if you want to change it you must break it / rip it up and something new will grow.”

What makes the album so magnificent, though, is Snaith’s voice. For the first time he sings on every song, amplifying the connection between the artist and listener to startling effect. Single Home, hits on some classic notes with soul, rock groove and light electronica. Sunny’s Time is an assortment of classical piano samples and chopped-up rap vocals over his bittersweet lyrics, “It all found me since I’ve been gone/ I’ll be back when this is all done.” Lime rolls as cyber funk and gradually builds-up a jazz fusion, as Snaith beckons “Make up your mind / Before it goes away / Don’t waste your time / Don’t let it slip.” The younger audience will instantly connect with “Never Come Back”. The track’s melody is bouncy and loaded with club hooks. Suddenly is Snaith’s most personal album to date. On the meditative “You and I”, Snaith celebrates life and friendship as he muses on a friend’s passing with dazzling instrumental and beautifully warped vocal samples. Ravi flips the pace back to up-tempo swing with peppy house beats before the lullaby gentleness of “Cloud Song” brings things to a close.

Essential tracks: Sister, Never Come Back,

You and I, Magpie

Rating: ****

An honest self-portrait of Allison
Soccer Mommy — Color Theory (Loma Vista)

Following her critically acclaimed debut Clean in 2018, Soccer Mommy, aka Sophie Allison’s latest album Color Theory is an optimistic sheen of light from the shadows of the past. The album is divided into three colour theme episodes: it begins with blue, which signifies depression and melancholy. The second, yellow, hones in on physical illness, centering around Allison’s mother and her battle with a terminal illness. The final segment, grey, represents fear of death. “Bloodstream” is the ideal introduction to the album, with muted electric guitars, that help Allison open her heart, “There’s a pale girl staring through the mirror at me, maybe it’s just a dream, wish I could go back to sleep”. The album is a remarkable evolution of Allison’s sound and attempts to grow on a personal level, while still maintaining the lyrical genius and honesty.

On “Royal Screw Up”, Allison confronts depression straight-out, as she sings, “you wear your armor /and save pretty girls like me / but I’m not so pretty.” Elsewhere, “Night Swimming” is the most straightforward track of Allison’s career, even as its lyrics talk of extreme anxiety, “You watched me sink beneath the water like a stone/ And then let go.”

It is a change from the upbeat tracks, featuring gorgeous, lush strings along with finger-picked guitar to complement Allison’s delicate delivery. “Yellow is the Color of Her Eyes addresses to her mother’s terminal illness, dealing with her own helplessness and her sense of losing time. “Loving you isn’t enough,” she sings, “You’ll still be deep in the ground when it’s done.” Despite melancholy, Soccer Mommy manages to uplift and brighten the collection, never letting it slip too far into the dark.

Essential tracks: Night Swimming, Yellow is the Color of Her Eyes,

Circle the Drain, Night Swimming

Rating: ***

Unafraid of being vulnerable
U.S. Girls — Heavy Light (4 AD)

Multi-disciplinary artist Meg Remy is back with the highly anticipated seventh album, Heavy Light, but this time around the mood appears to be moulded by reflection and meditation rather than anger and anxiety. Heavy Lights title is inspired by Bohemian novelist, Franz Kafka and his popular quote, “A belief is like a guillotine. Just as heavy, just as light.”

The album was recorded live with nearly 20 session musicians and features re-recorded versions of previous songs and spoken word recollections of childhood. Each track illustrates a different emotion and story. The songs focus more on thoughtful dealing with themes of personal pressure and the value of hindsight, in a socio-political landscape.

On the empowering opener “4 American Dollars”, Remy includes words of advice from a Martin Luther King Jr. quote: “You gotta have boots/ If you wanna lift those bootstraps.” Saxophonist Jake Clemons, a member of Bruce Springsteen’s backing band for the past eight years, performs a dramatic saxophone solo on the lead single “Overtime”. The songs are woven together with medleys of voice recordings of people’s personal tales and fragments of human experiences. Multi-lingual track “Yet It Moves/ Y Se Mueve” is deliberately half in English and half in Spanish as it talks about divisions between the cultures and is an addictive mix of 1970s disco and bossa nova. Penultimate “The Quiver to the Bomb”, is an extensive anthem about the birth of humanity and the environmental disaster. “IOU” is an emotional heavyweight, as Remy sings, “You didn’t choose to be born/ And I’ve never heard of anyone who has/ I never known no baby with a plan/ For how to survive.” The album closes with “Red Ford Radio”, arguably the quintessential US Girls song, with a heavier rendition of the original version from 2010s Go Grey.

Essential tracks: Overtime, Woodstock ‘99, The Quiver to the Bomb, IOU

Rating: ***

Top 10 Singles

• The Box Roddy Ricch (NM)
• Life Is Good Future feat. Drake (NM)
• Don’t Start Now Dua Lipa (CU)
• Circles Post Melone (FD)
• Roxanne Arizona Zervas (CU)
• Blinding Lights The Weeknd (CU)
• Stupid Love Lady Gaga (NE)
• Intentions Justin Bieber feat. Quavo (CU)
• Adore You Harry Styles (CU)
• Everything I Wanted Billie Eilish (NM)
• Legend: (CU): Climbing Up; (FD): Falling down; (NM): Non-Mover and
• (NE): New Entry