Album Reviews: Charli XCX, Marie Davidson, Softcult

Charli XCX – Wuthering Heights
Cambridge, England

Despite the film missing the mark in spots and this soundtrack not always feeling like an apt fit within the movie, Charli XCX’s last album for Wuthering Heights works much better on its own. Cinematic, intense and viscerally evocative, Charli is on a very specific tear with this record, which uses so many of her strengths amazingly. It’s just a shame it doesn’t work as well in the movie, though that seems less her fault than just a poor marriage of mediums. There’s a dread with John Cale and the brooding strings mounting on “House,” as Charli mounts a horror-core track that uses her twist of pop-meets-demented production to craft something abrasive yet infectious in those huge notes. “Dying for You” is a wonderful mix of production that crushes orchestras, choirs and a range of sounds into a charging pop track that feels like a perfect tie-in of her weirdest sounds from Pop 2 with the kind of addictive writing she does so well. Touching on a little bit of Caroline Polachek on “Always Everywhere,” there’s a sweeping grandeur on this track, and it becomes a swell of wind and sun as the final strings burst like they’re starting to all gain lives of their own. Though the simplest pop-wise, “Chains of Love” is a massive swing of a song that lets each chorus come like an explosion directly from the heart.

HÉR – Needles and Bark (Single)
Gdańsk, Poland

Creating a dark, minimalist feel in their sound, it can be shocking to hear HÉR drop the hammer, when they do, on “Needles and Bark.” The whole song is flush with a cold and hostile feeling for much of its early run, with tension ramping up as it hits its chorus. And with the wails coming out after the last “Bark,” you feel the pain rising, with the titular pair unable to stop anything coming their way. The concentration and slow explosion of the percussion in every chorus mounts with this idea, going off with woodwinds to craft a kind of spiralling, disorientating spin of violence.

Softcult – When a Flower Doesn’t Grow
Kitchener, Ontario

Mixing serene vocals with a heavy wave of intense shoegaze that really brings in the low-end, Softcult bring more of Ontario into the powerhouse on noise-rock. Blending the surreal highs with the massive-feeling lows, they craft a classic record that will have you questioning how so few people can make so much sound. “Pill to Swallow” sets the record off like being swallowed by rapids, with a dazzling array of sunbeams shining through as you’re pulled into a violent undertow in the sound. The ethereal tones of “Naive” let the harmonies dance as a kind of in and out, both with the voices and instrumentals. Though the electricity in the drumming on “16/25” is undeniably hypnotizing, there’s something to how the duo have let the melodies cut through the noise just a bit more on “Queen of Nothing” that creates a mesmerizing track on the record, and one that calls back to early Honeyblood.  Saving the best for last, “Not Sorry” brings explosive walls of sound akin to the Joy Formidable, before bringing you into watery and spacious verses that feel like warped cousins to 90s shoegaze.

C.ROSS – Love Until You’re Free (Single)
Toronto

With the shifting grounds of a desert in its bones, “Love Until You’re Free” sees C.ROSS taking a sprawling journey through the mind. With a bit of 90s Seattle grunge crossed with California desert rock baked in, the track still leans more on a dark psychedelia, letting the guitar solos burn like pyres, and the vocals serve as ritualistic chants at times. Serving as more of a brooding mood-piece than a standard verse-chorus affair, this track sizzles you out and sets you off on a journey of discovery of your very own. With those sombre vocals as your only recurring guide, the later bomb-like whizzes and explosive cymbals can feel like a last hurrah, sending the whole sound into the void.

Marie Davidson – City of Clowns
Montreal

Marie Davidson has always been an electronic explorer who pushes sound, thrives in the weird, and lets it all out on the record. With Soulwax producing, Davidson’s edges are sharper than ever, but also tweaked in some subtle ways to make the songs all the more addictive, with an album that feels like a pure hit of her freaky tones finessed to pop perfection. “Fun Times” is a kinetic fireball of a track, with Davidson unleashing all her saucy lyricism and a constant barrage of percussion amidst all the great hooks, making for a fully ecstatic listen. There’s an ongoing sense of play and fun on “Sexy Clown” that’s quite intoxicating, as every bar has something unique going on, and every phrase dropped by Davidson feels as off-the-cuff as it is invigorating. The grimy production morphs the seductive charms of “Push Me Fuckhead” into something dark and on the border of frightening to some, or more enticing to others. But that ramping dirt is also why it feels like one of the album’s most simply cutting. With the sound at its most amorphous on “Y.A.A.M.,” Davidson dives in full steam to the desires and vices around her, loosing a dangerous cloud of intense need in her sound.

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