CD reviews
CHVRCHES Love Is Dead
WHILE mostly good, this new album from Scotland’s favourite synth-poppers has moments that might confuse their fans. Personally, I like that kind of thing. It’s great when an artist is known for a specific something and yet is bold enough to try a fresh approach. Sublime synth pop is their bread and butter. The combination of Lauren Mayberry’s touching, sweet vocals alongside cascading layers of synths pays their rent. It doesn’t matter much if the synths in question are melodically pretty ( Graffiti) or rougher and meatier ( Get Out). This core sound of theirs is euphorically neon. It has a sparkling, joyous, celebratory vibe. Perhaps the best of these happy songs is Forever, an addictive sugar rush where Mayberry confesses to a friend or lover that she regrets the night she told them she would “hate them ’til forever”. The word “forever” is emphasised by echoes, while the song’s ’80s melodies are little short of glorious. But let’s get back to those fun left turns. My Enemy teams Mayberry with the gruff indie-rock voice of Matt Berninger of The National. The song is a shadowy, moody tune that sounds like nothing else on this album. It’s a revelation that blows out the cobwebs. It is a counterbalance to the light and shiny music that dominates the album. The other standout is Miracle, which is their “look, we went to a Flume concert” kind of tune. It’s got oomph that is uncommon on Love Is Dead. It not a new sound at all, it just feels new in the context of Chvrches.
A$AP ROCKY Testing
TESTING won’t appeal to a whole swath of rap fans, and I get the impression A$AP Rocky could not care less. With every new album — Testing is his third as a solo artist — Rocky pushes the boundaries further and further away from traditional hip-hop. Don’t get me wrong, he has his moments when he falls back on his original skill, spitting bars, but more often these 15 songs feel like a painter testing out new colours. If the aim was to get wilder and wilder, mission accomplished. He has got layered, echoing sounds and voices in the fore- and background of these tunes alongside some crystal, childlike melodies, distorted craziness, and some random pop samples from Moby and Lauryn Hill. For some artists this type of genre-bending could end up a mess, and occasionally Rocky lands in that place too, but mostly he hits home runs. Testing is the type of album where the listener can just kick back and get lost in its world.