Few artists can mix true operatic and classical tones with pop in a genuine way that also feels experimental and inspired. And with the high-flying ambition and reach that Rosalia goes for on this record creating something truly one-of-a-kind, the only question is how often you’ll be able to put on music this insanely rich and intense without needing a break. To give you a taste of what’s coming on the record, “Sexo, Violencia y Llantas” brings in the strings and high-drama sound of the record that make the whole record sound like it’s being shouted from a mountaintop, but saves the operatic heights for later. The strings ebb and flow in their intensity throughout “Reliquia” going from sharp to soft to warped into death blades, for a track that is like watching a flame veer into a full firework at times. With Björk and Yves Tumor in tow on “Berghain” the theatrics are nearing cartoonish levels in the best possible way as the track unleashes operatic harmonies that fly like kicks and Björk emerges like a spirit of nature commanding you to rise up. After so much of the combustion and dense tones of the record, there’s a more playful feeling to the sparse orchestrations on “La Perla” that feels more like a film score pop song with a little foley work mixed in.
Blending a retro flare with a kind of call and response choral charge that would make The Hives blush, Savage Beat is roaring on their latest single. The riffs swing and slice with a vicious edge, bringing the right mix of grit and dance to get you really shaking along with each moment on a heavy edge. And long after you’ve settled into the flow of the track, the bridge adds a whole other catchy line to permanently stick in your ears. And they ramp the whole energy right back up to the top to go into their blowout finale on a track that knows exactly how to play with tension and dynamics, while having a hell of a time doing it.
A diviner of mystic-feeling music, Florence Welch has always brought an otherworldly quality to her music, long before the earth-shattering vocals swept in. Even with some uneven moments in the mix, Welch is hungry and pushing herself vocally here, creating a constant excitement in the music that means you could go into a frantic rush at any time. Between the driving grooves and the chaotic production around the edges, “Everybody Scream” has a fun and unhinged atmosphere to it that is hard to ignore. The chanting and surrounding production of the track gives it a sonic space similar to scenes from “The Testament of Ann Lee” There’s a lightning-fast attack to “Witch Dance” that feels borderline alien to Welch’s style, with the kinetic percussion creating such a torrent that the slow, harp and harmony-laden choruses feel more like the slow-motion eye of a hurricane than a true break from the storm. Though the percussion of “Kraken” also snowballs, “Sympathy Magic” has a more ethereal quality to its mounting tension, turning the track into an unstoppable mix of stomps and twinkling strings that gain a borderline galactic quality as Welch reaches the song’s final moments. “Buckle” strips a lot back for Welch’s sound, crafting something raw and personal, with all her ghostly voices building with the sound to create an empowering track that swells as her feelings do too.
Delivering a soulful ballad to pull you and maybe even herself out of the dumps, Satya brings tones of gospel and old school R&B into the mix here. With organs humming and a soft guitar shimmering like lost rays on a cloudy day, the base is a subtle but grand voice in the track, really giving a weight to the track that comes in harder and more emotionally poignantly if you can get the song on the right speakers. Sharp and direct, Satya delivers a performance that runs the gamut, taking it from intimate talking right to wails and belts, sometimes all at once. Soothing as much as it is inspiring, the track lands like the self-assuring wave you need to bring you back from your darkest days, as Satya seems to try and rescue herself from future lows.
Masters of their sound of adding the pieces together into a new whole on each record, Dry Cleaning have always run the danger of not having it all add up. So while they chart new and exciting territory in some places here, there’s not always a coherent or necessarily boundary pushing feeling that makes their sound work all the time here, with some songs retreading too much or simply feeling too anti-climactic to justify the avant-garde approach. In the creeping and slinking grooves of “Hit My Head All Day,” Dry Cleaning ramp up their punchy back and forth production style into something more like clean and booming to loud and neon, for a track that slowly lets you break out of your inhibitions. While things stay more typical and slow for the group on “Secret Love,” the spacey back half of the track sees the band exploring sonically in ways they’ve never gone before. Alternatively, “Let Me Grow and You’ll See the Fruit” takes a more folk-pop approach to the melodies, letting all the spoken word approach play as more counterpoint to the music, and giving the track a feeling of walking amongst all the beauty around it. It’s fun to see the band go on more of a tear on “Rocks,” just shredding and blowing out all the drum and bass tones, it’s only a shame they don’t crank up all that sound till it’s melting your speakers.
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