Lorde - Solar Power Review
Unfortunately, if this album was solar-powered, it is suffering from the ill-effects of an overcast day, because instead of the carefree, effervescent days of summer she wishes to evoke, the end product is sadly more blurry shades of grey.
After a four year hiatus, the New Zealand pop star's third studio album has found her again working with producer Jack Antonoff. For environmental reasons, she has decided against physical releases in favour of a digital download.
The physical format isn't the only thing lacking. This album has failed to pack a punch like its predecessors; it doesn't quite take off at any point. I have found it quite sanctimonious in its lyrical content, presenting an infuriating lack of self-awareness. And, sadly, the stripped-back approach that has been taken in both production and instrumentation has left a finished product that lacks direction and just feels tired, lacklustre and dull. The "nature" sounds that have been injected feel a little forced and don't seem to quite fit.
After the release of Melodrama, Lorde logged out of all her social media accounts. She took off on an adventure to Antarctica, which is nigh on impossible for us mere mortals, and then embarked on an arduous tour of exotic beaches, and jetted around the world freed of any pressures of money looming over her. Despite this downtime, she seems very frustrated with her ultra-privileged lifestyle, lamenting over having to get on airplanes all the time and “having nightmares from the camera flash”; In ‘The Path’, Lorde brags that she “won’t take the call if it’s the label or the radio”; in the title track she crows over having thrown her “cellular device in the water” so that nobody at all can reach her.
On ‘Dominoes’, she sounds beyond exhausted by having dated someone, who remains anonymous, who went on to do “yoga with Uma Thurman’s mother.” ‘Fallen Fruit’ addresses climate change, which seems a little hypocritical when earlier in the album she was complaining about taking so many flights.
I found myself constantly wanting more from the tracks, occasionally songs threatened to emerge from the fog, a lyric slightly sparks, desperately trying to catch hold; melodies feel like they are going to gain some sort of shape, only to abruptly end and retreat back into the background, where they lurk until they vanish altogether. This is especially true of ‘Mood Ring’, which simply leaves the listener hanging.
Antonoff’s hazy guitar is present on almost every song on the album, to the point where tracks begin to blend together, making it quite monotonous. I appreciate that I'm not her target audience, but I feel like she's desperately trying to reinvent herself and her sound into some psychedelic, hippy earth mother vibe, and make a "summer album", but it lacks the depth and vision of her previous albums.
With a little more variation on some of the tracks, it could have been more impactful, and certainly more enjoyable for the listener. Antonoff has recently produced Clairo’s Sling as well as Lana Del Ray's Chemtrails over the Country Club and has tried to implement the same formula here, and whilst I would never wish for an artist to, in essence, release the same album over and over, this folksy pseudo-acoustic style doesn't feel like Lorde is being very authentic. I have found it sounds quite shrill, and falls a little short of the mark, lacking originality or novelty. It is a poor facsimile of the aforementioned. Gone are the memorable choruses, there are no punchy hooks, snappy bridges or memorable key changes to keep you interested. The title track ‘Solar Power’ feels like a lukewarm attempt at an early-noughties throwback acoustic pop song from the likes of Natalie Imbruglia and, as with several other tracks, it showcases some odd mixing choices. There’s a brief burst of trumpet fanfare that should signify the song hitting a crescendo but, in reality, it is too pared-back to create any real impact. Not even her choir featuring Phoebe Bridgers and Clairo can save the day, sounding quite tragically flat.
Unfortunately, if this album was solar-powered, it is suffering from the ill-effects of an overcast day, because instead of the carefree, effervescent days of summer she wishes to evoke, the end product is sadly more blurry shades of grey.