Album Reviews

On Her Debut Album, “D.Y.K.E.,” KayelaJ Tackles Her Inner Demons

An acronym for “Don’t yield, keep enduring,” D.Y.K.E. reveals much of what Johnson strove through. Over masterly crafted beats from local producers like Sir Nai and Blangblanglang, Johnson goes hard on bars about realizing her sexual orientation and, subsequently, getting played by straight girls and Instagram models, how black men don’t support black women, and abuse and depression. She pleads how her confessions are for black people and for queer people on the acoustic, slow-bop opener “For You,” making it clear the songs that follow are ones both groups can relate to.

On Their Debut Album, No Aloha Starts to Carve Out Their Own Surf-Rock Niche

From the get-go, Okay Alone shares DNA with the likes of Dum Dum Girls and Best Coast. The patient strums and finger snaps of “In Your Car,” the stacked harmonies and shakers of “The Big One” all set the stage for a breezy album that keeps its preoccupations with relationship strife and impending cataclysm at a safe distance. The arrangements finally begin to open up on “Green,” an introspective track that finds founding duo Brette Irish and Blake Ferrin finally trading the terroir of sunny Southern California for that of their native Pacific Northwest.

On Their New Album, Ages and Ages Uses Upbeat Pop to Deliver Lyrics About Hopelessness

Me You They We’s disaffected worldview is a long way from the bright-eyed perseverance of “Divisionary (Do the Right Thing),” the Portland band’s 2014 breakout single. Still, the album begins optimistically enough with “Way Back In,” a playful nugget of soul pop that finds Perry delving into his psyche with the hope of emerging resolute. Despite its lyrics about emotional clutter, “Way Back In” sounds clear and determined. Taut percussion drives tidy layers of pianos, strings and multitracked vocal harmonies, resulting in a classic indie-baroque sound in the vein of Dr. Dog and Spoon.

Shy Girls Trades Brooding Bedroom Pop for Blissed-Out R&B on His New Album

The album offers a different side of Vidmar’s emotional and sonic sensibilities. His sound is still rooted in R&B, but it’s warmer and more fleshed out this time around. Album opener “Drain” is chill, subtle, pleasant and loosely neo-soul. The song’s slinky bass beat drops sensuality into the flow of the album from its first jump. Then, Bird on the Wing slides into “Hallelujah,” which sounds like the classic Maxwell track “Ascension,” especially Vidmar’s vocal foray toward the end.

Natasha Kmeto Shows a Different Side of Herself on Her New EP, “Verse/Versus”

Kmeto has mentioned that with the EP, she wanted more of a bedroom-pop feel, as opposed to the crafted weightiness of her previous works. Goal achieved—each track has the feeling of a late-night emotional release that some would bury deep within the pages of a diary but that Kmeto coos into a microphone. On “Eyes,” she wastes no time unleashing her sultry voice. Over a slo-fi indie trap beat, she bellows, “I’ve been singing sad songs for too long not to know exactly what’s going on,” in a way that’s strikingly personal.

The Hugs’ New Album Doesn’t Reinvent the Wheel, But it Hits All of Guitar Rock’s Pleasure Centers

Some of the most promising acts in the genre have figured out that invoking the spirit of college rock—or whatever else jangly guitar pop was referred to before “indie” became a qualifier for anything and everything—is a direct path to the pleasure center of guitar rock’s true believers. Portland’s Hugs are definitely one of those bands. The nine songs on their latest record, Love You to Death, could potentially come across as pandering to that reality, but the album’s songwriting and assembly is far too honest and carefree to deserve such a cynical assessment.

The Dandy Warhols’ New Album is a Summary of the Band’s 25-Year-Long Career

A sort of grandiosity and confidence permeates the whole of Why You So Crazy? The Dandys are, and have always been, a throwback to the golden age of rock stardom. That’s not changed here, and songs like “Small Town Girls” and “Sins Are Forgiven,” the latter of which has Taylor-Taylor sing from the point of view of Jesus on the cross, find the frontman exuding the almost bored-sounding, elegantly wasted confidence that’s served him so well.

“Liminal Garden” is Dolphin Midwives’ Least Enya-like and Most Anxious Album Yet

The album, which Fisher releases this week at a show at Mississippi Studios, marks a departure from the comparative harmony of her 2016 release, Orchid Milk. The songs on Orchid Milk are all longer than five minutes; the compositions on Liminal Garden are much shorter. You can lose yourself in Orchid Milk’s lush yet familiar soundscapes, but Liminal Garden is less relaxing—Fisher actively resists traditional song structures, so you can’t predict the flow of each song. In that sense, Liminal Garden is a cultivated soundscape that wordlessly reflects the global zeitgeist of anxiety.

Five Letter Word’s Debut Album Fills All the Requirements for Breezy Folk Music While Testing the Genre’s Boundaries

The resulting record touches on well-trodden tropes of Five Letter Word’s chosen genre. But what makes Siren work—beyond the trio’s goose bump-inducing harmonies—is the record’s ability to highlight each member’s divergent passions and talents. Murder ballads like “Cast Iron Skillet” and “Rumor of the Money” stand next to darling songs like “More Than Your Dog,” which is about wanting more attention from a lover than he gives his dog. The languid, horn-assisted jazz of “Bills in the Mail” recalls Norah Jones’ early records, and the sultry “Easier to Go” is a song about a relationship that sounds as if it was written for the bedroom.
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