BEACH HOUSE – ONCE TWICE MELODY
RELEASED in winter but looking forwards to the summer, One Twice Melody is a shimmering soundtrack for hazy sunshine-drenched days.
With hushed vocals, burbling synths, lowkey beats and buckets of the melodies promised by the album title, this is a record to immerse yourself in.
It is the eighth studio album from the Baltimore duo Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, and the most fully realised, self-produced and using a live string ensemble for the first time. Over 80 minutes of music is so well crafted that each track sounds unique.
Scally has previously lamented their reputation as "wafty, wavy, floaty, dreamy" but there's a reason they are so often referred to as 'dream pop': nothing here is in danger of being mistaken for Napalm Death.
The irresistibly catchy Superstar is a real highlight, along with the hypnotic Illusion Of Forever and epic Over And Over.
4/5
Matthew George
METRONOMY – SMALL WORLD
METRONOMY'S latest album poses the question: How can a dad in his late 30s write songs about teenage heartbreak and angst? And answers it with a hefty dose of nostalgia and pared back guitar.
In Hold Me Tonight, singer Joe Mount, who has been with his girlfriend for 10 years, sings of unrequited young love.
While mournful ballad Life and Death channels the morose musings of a would be Young Werther.
Mount has said that he finds platitudes fascinating, and on It's So Good to be Back he uses a line of typical post lockdown small talk to create a summer anthem.
With its funky beat and chorus of "Its just something in the air oh yeah. It feels so good to be back", it is the album's closest thing to a ready-made hit.
Although Small World will struggle to appeal to younger listeners, older fans are sure find it a delight.
3/5
Luke O'Reilly
FOXES – THE KICK
SINCE her commercial breakthrough in 2012 on the Grammy-winning hit Clarity, Louisa Rose Allen has been exploring electronic music's various stylistic nooks and crannies.
On The Kick, the Southampton-raised singer opts for the sort of emotive, melancholic pop expertly delivered by Robyn and Jessie Ware in recent years and does a good job offering her own take.
Her voice is suited to introspection, and set to high energy dance beats, Allen is able to recreate both the catharsis of the dance floor and the anxiety of lockdown.
Growing On Me introduces a pop-punk feel, while Potential is retro-futurist funk reminiscent of Daft Punk.
Working with the producer Ghost Culture, whose CV includes collaborations with cult underground figures Daniel Avery and Kelly Lee Owens, appears to have made a difference, bringing a subtlety previously absent in her work.
While The Kick may sometimes lean towards imitation as opposed to innovation, it remains a giant leap forward for Foxes.
3/5
Alex Green
WHITE LIES – AS I TRY NOT TO FALL APART
THE latest album from indie rock stalwarts White Lies begins on a promising note with opener Am I Really Going to Die introducing funk elements as frontman Harry McVeigh considers his mortality.
The titular track, meanwhile, serves up a pleasant back beat but lacks emotion.
Roll December fails to justify its almost seven-minute length and really demands a rhapsody of multiple sections, such as on Radiohead's classic Paranoid Android or Muse's Knights of Cydonia.
However, memorable vocals matched with pounding guitar make I Don't Wanna Go a highlight.
The London-formed outfit offer little variety between tunes to give meaning to the tracklist.
In a landscape saturated with indie rock, it is important bands have something that sets them apart. White Lies, although talented, fail to do this on an ultimately unsatisfying sixth album.
2/5
Mason Oldridge
