Rating: 4/5 stars
Lizzy McAlpine’s “Older” is an album for poetry lovers: lyrically beautiful and musically sparse.
The album follows a clear progression, mourning the end of a relationship. It feels as though it is an evolution of the relationships explored in her last album, “five seconds flat.” This album was an immediate reaction, higher in levels of emotion. “Older,” as can be inferred from the title, is her developing reflection on these same things as she ages.
The album is lyrically flawless. Not a single word feels out of place and nearly every phrase lands emotionally with the listener. Not many of the songs follow the standard pop verse-chorus-bridge structure. There is very little repetition of material, lyrical or musical, within individual songs. It is obvious that a lot of time was spent crafting these songs; McAlpine never takes the easy way out by recycling.
One thing I missed was McAlpine’s style of bigger songs with a thicker texture. Three songs on her former album, “doomsday,” “orange show speedway” and “reckless driving” fit this bill. There is an obvious progression in the texture of the music, progressively raising the stakes throughout the song. Only “All Falls Down” follows this progression on her newest album, and lyrically, it is one of her weakest. Still, it was one of my favorites and makes impressive use of woodwind instruments, like saxophone and flute, that pop music typically avoids.
“Vortex” has received a lot of attention because of its lyrics. Musically, not much happens, and I found it to be fairly boring on that front. It explores the complications in relationships, lamenting, “I’m not there anymore, this has never been real/we’re just awful together and awful apart.” The song is a perfect representation of self-inflicting pain as an artist in order to have emotions to write about.
“You Forced Me To” also made the list of favorites. The song feels like a walk through downtown Paris because of its musical structure, adapting a French sound and style. The harmonies are creative and sit pleasantly with the melody, but also generate a haunting feel.
“Movie Star,” despite being a short track, has some of the best lyrics on the album. Balancing out McAlpine’s musical and lyrical creativity explores feeling seen and valued as a person because of gaining attention from a man. “I’m special, he sees me, he chose me out of everyone,” she says. McAlpine mourns the fact that no one has stopped her from seeing this man and the difficulty of distinguishing love from attention. The stacking of the vocal melody in the chorus is beautiful.
“Come Down Soon” was another favorite, making use of jazz harmonization. What is so striking about “Older” as an album is the use of complex jazz harmonies and progressions while still sounding like a folk or singer/songwriter album.
McAlpine’s vocals are nothing incredibly striking, but her ability to make complex melodies sound simple is astounding. Her words sound effortless, as though they are pouring from her mouth as they come to mind. The texture of her music, which is soft and minimal while also using non-traditional instruments, makes her album feel like something truly new. “Older” is an album that both music and lyrics lovers will enjoy— but one that will land with true lovers of poetry in a way that will stick around for years to come.
Image by Lizzy McAlpine via YouTube
