ALBUM REVIEWS

LORDE Melodrama Republic

Grammy-winning New Zealander Lorde created Royals and the rest of her debut album in her teen years. Now, at 20, she’s back with a sophomore release just as exceptional, and with a growing sound.

Melodrama finds Lorde partnering with Jack Antonoff, the FUN. guitarist and songwriter-producer who worked on Taylor Swift’s 1989.

He helps Lorde expand her sound on the new album, keeping what was best about 2013’s moody Heroine, with a few extra layers.

Tracks such as Liability and Writer In the Dark are beautiful tunes, highlighted by the piano, that showcase Lorde’s overall growth — sonically, vocally and lyrically.

Sober and Supercut are beat-laden winners; Hard Feelings/ Loveless is revealing; and “Sober II (Melodrama) is eerie and epic.

JEFF TWEEDY Together at Last

dBpm Records With its paradoxical title, Together at Last features Wilco songwriter and lead singer Jeff Tweedy all alone with just his acoustic guitar and occasionally a harmonica.

There are no new compositions on Together at Last. Instead, Tweedy re-imagines 11 songs previously recorded with either Wilco or Tweedy’s other side projects Golden Smog and Loose Fur.

The versions Tweedy lays down are similar to how he plays the songs when he tours solo without Wilco.

For anyone unfamiliar with those arrangements, it may be quite a jolt hearing Wilco standards like Via Chicago and I Am Trying to Break Your Heart laid bare.

By stripping the songs down to their essence, lyrics that may have got lost in previous fullband arrangements now shine through, allowing the listener to re-engage with a new perspective.