Sound judgement
THE LATEST ALBUM RELEASES RATED AND REVIEWED
JUSTICE JUSTIN BIEBER HHHHH
BIEBER is back with an album combining his two favourite themes – his love for model wife Hailey and his transformation from troubled teen star to reformed empath.
But it seems he thinks his music is more profound than it is.
The 27-year-old’s attempts to imbue his songs with deeper meaning through Martin Luther King samples and allusions to a greater purpose and, of course, a higher justice, fall a little short. Unstable and Off My Face use clumsy metaphors but are rock solid pop songs. Holy, which came out in September last year, combines a campfire singalong chorus with a genuine religious fervour. It’s an unlikely triumph.
Justice ranks somewhere between the highs of Purpose and the disappointing homogeneity of last year’s Changes. Either way you look at it, it’s a move in the right direction.
CHEMTRAILS OVER THE COUNTRY CLUB
LANA DEL REY HHHHH
IT’S likely you are already familiar with the central themes of Lana Del Rey’s latest album.
The American songstress has been mining ideas of doomed youth, troubled love and the price of fame for six albums now, but with increasingly powerful results.
2019’s Norman F ****** Rockwell! was a career high that alchemised those ideas perfectly, but the songwriting here is not as consistent.
Del Rey frontloads the album with her strongest material.
Long-standing collaborator Jack Antonoff facilitates her vision with gossamer 12-string acoustic guitar on the title track and dense but quiet percussion on the enticing, if overlong, Tulsa Jesus Freak.
Things tail off in the album’s middle section before closing on a high note.
ZOOM IN
SIR RINGO STARR HHHHH
AN EP seems a curious choice for such an established act, but Zoom In makes a nice little package.
Starr’s voice has a charming, rough-edged quality on Here’s To The Nights, though the little help he has from his friends (who include Sheryl Crow and Sir Paul McCartney) fails to add much to the syrupy ballad.
Zoom In Zoom Out sees Sir Ringo punning on the lockdown craze for calling loved ones virtually. He channels the cheeky jauntiness of Madness in Not Enough Love In The World, a song that will please fans of his minimalist drumming style. The most interesting track is Waiting For The Tide To Turn, a reggae number that hits some of the right notes.