One of my pet theories at Aphoristic Album Reviews is that artists peak with their fourth (and fifth) albums. Today, I review the recently-released fourth albums from Glasgow synth-pop band CHVRCHES (with a cameo from The Cure’s Robert Smith) and Atlanta’s Faye Webster. Coincidentally or not, they’re both more impressive than Lorde’s Solar Power; merely the Aucklander’s third album.
CHVRCHES
Screen Violence
2021, 9/10
Scottish synth-pop band Chvrches are up to their fourth album – it’s my theory that bands often peak with their fourth album, and it’s seemingly the case here (unless their next record is even better). Screen Violence was recorded remotely during the Coronavirus pandemic, with the trio spread between Glasgow and Los Angeles.
They temper the sweetness of synth-pop with some dark lyrics and some gritty rock instrumentation in places. The Cure’s Robert Smith provides backing vocals on ‘How Not To Drown’, a song written by band member Martin Doherty whilst dealing with depression.
The memorable tracks are often the poppiest – vocalist Lauren Mayberry’s Scottish lilt is delightful on tracks like the opening ‘Asking for a Friend’. The chorus of ‘Final Girl’ builds and builds, each line more ecstatic than the last, while ‘Good Girls’ is irresistibly catchy despite the downbeat opening line “Killing your idols is a chore”.
Screen Violence is a terrific album from Chvrches, mixing breezy synth-pop with some impressive depth.
Lorde
Solar Power
2021, 7/10
Lorde scored a surprise US number one with ‘Royals’ in 2013, the only Kiwi artist to top the American charts. Third album Solar Power feels like a retreat from pop superstardom – it doesn’t boast any obvious pop hits, and Lorde’s stated that she doesn’t “even know really what the smashes are now”. Solar Power has taken a critical pasting compared to Lorde’s previous work – while it’s a step down from 2017’s Melodrama, it’s still enjoyable.
Lorde and Jack Antonoff, working remotely, concoct an album based around mellow grooves and acoustic guitar. It’s notable for the abundance of overqualified backing vocalists, including Robyn, Phoebe Bridgers, Clairo, and fellow New Zealanders Marlon Williams and Lawrence of Arabia. The pretty sun-kissed music is often lovely, but the lyrics sometimes feel like stoned ramblings – “I’ll tell you my secrets/I’m kinda like a prettier Jesus”.
Lorde’s also released an EP of songs from the album in Maori (the language of New Zealand’s indigenous people) titled Te Ao Mārama. I’ve heard most of it piped through the waiting room after my Covid-19 vaccination, and it almost works better in Maori since the lyrics are lightweight and the main attractions are Lorde’s vocals and the breezy summer music. Highlights include ‘Secrets of a Girl (Who’s Seen It All)’, with its propulsive acoustic guitar, and the gentle closer ‘Oceanic Feeling’.
Solar Power is an interesting diversion for Lorde, but it doesn’t entirely play to her strengths.
Faye Webster
I Know I’m Funny Ha Ha
2021, 8.5/10
Atlanta’s Faye Webster is notable for how young she started her career – she self-released 2013’s Run and Tell while still in her mid teens. She released I Know I’m Funny Ha Ha on her 24th birthday, her fourth record. Webster already has a unique sound figured out, a kind of country lounge. There are classy horns and slick cocktail jazz piano, coupled with country touches like pedal steel. She tops it off with her wistful voice and quirky personality. “You weigh just as much as me, don’t you?” is a disarmingly strange line for a love song; the song culminates in the line “you make me wanna cry in a good way.”
The quirkiness distracts from the fact that Webster’s a very talented operator. The biggest earworm is the low key earnestness ‘Sometimes’, with its pretty chorus. There’s a great bassline in the moody ‘A Dream With a Baseball Player’. The spare tracks that spotlight Webster’s personality are most effective, but there’s more muscle behind ‘Cheers’.
Sometimes I’m Funny Ha Ha seems lightweight, but it’s ingratiatingly effective all the same.
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Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
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Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.
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I love Scottish music. Especially “Frightened Rabbit” (Rip Scott – we miss you!)
And Chvvurches – my daughter is going to the concert in Toronto. The three musicians are amazing!
As far a Lorde – she’s a high level talent but the new single is an absolute rip-off of George Michael’s “Faith”. Play them back to back and see if I’m crazy.
This is a recurring theme in modern rock. It makes me happy and sad at the same time.
I like that Frightened Rabbit album with Heads Roll Off on it – another band with a big Scottish accent.
Have you heard Lana Del Rey’s Get Free?
Out of all of them… Chvrches is closer to a sound I like. As you know these are not my strength but the Chvrches song is pretty powerful and “loud”…I like loud. A nice drive behind it.
There’s some nice guitar solos in there, even though it’s mainly synth-based.
That is what I picked up on.
I really love the Chvrches album, their best.
The Lorde album, songwriting-wise, it’s good but I’m afraid the production made it too distant and dry. I’ll be waiting for the next album to see if she can top ‘Melodrama’.
Have heard of Faye but haven’t got around to listen to her yet.
I haven’t spent a whole lot of time with the other Chvrches album – I loved Graffiti off the last one.
Melodrama is Lorde’s best album easily at this point. Interested to see where she goes next. I didn’t mind the production, but I felt like she’s usually a lyrics-focused artist and she just didn’t have a whole lot to say.
I’ve been buying Uncut and Mojo magazines, and they’ve hyped all three of these records. The Webster interests me the most, as far as checking things out!
IIRC, you’re not big on Lorde.
You have an excellent memory! In fairness, that was a drunk review, and it’s been a long while since then, since I even thought of that person, let alone heard any of it, and I’ve been doing quite a few pop albums these days (I sat through two CDs of Kylie Minogue) so who knows.
Lorde’s second album is easily her best, I think – still might not be your thing though. She’s not really straight pop, quite a lot of introspection in there. There’s a zone with Lorde, Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish who all have some pop appeal but are also a bit dark and lyric focused.
I’ll probably go through a phase eventually.
I recently discovered that Chvrches was formed by ex-Aereogramme members / touring member so have been paying a bit more attention – enjoying the fourth album plenty.
The Lorde stuff isn’t doing it for me, but from what I hear she doesn’t care if fans of earlier stuff like it or not. Hence the ‘cheeky’ cover art I guess.
Lorde feels a little bit like she’s uncomfortable with stardom and wants to be a niche artist. Kind of like Eddie Vedder in the 1990s.
Faye Webster is indeed a curious artist. I really like her slant on music. I’ve really warmed up to Lorde’s new album. I like that it’s low key but I’m not sure many of her fans are happy. Chvrches is a band that I unconsciously ignore for some reason. Your review and rating gives me hope I might like it.
That CHVRCHES album is super good – hopefully it turns up on lots of end-of-year lists.
That’s “midnight organ fight” – their breakout album, but the next two were just as good:“winter of mixed drinks” and the one released before Scott passed where he foreshadows what’s going to happen (“I wore a black suit for this morning”).
They came to Canada a lot and we always saw them. They are students of Canada music – they chose “Wintersleep” and “Hey Rosetta” etc to open for them here.
Listen to “Footshooter” and also “I Wish that I was sober”.
Love LDR – I’ll look that up, thanks.
Midnight Organ Fight also has ‘Floating in the Forth’.
I thought you’d find that LDR song interesting for its recycling – more blatant than most, I think.
Sorry, that was meant for the conversation above about “Frightened Rabbit”. But everyone should take a listen – if you don’t know them.
I like CHVRCHES a lot, they always have a few killer hooks per album, and this new one is really good with the horror theme.
Faye Webster is not really my style, but I gave that one a shot too and I do kind of like the lazy beach vibe and the jazz fusion-y instrumental bridges. I’m not naturally drawn to it, though.
I need to spend more time with the other CHVRCHES albums – I like them, but this seems like them peaking to me so far.
hot take for sure about the fourth record. i always think the first record is the best record. it captures the artist raw and unencumbered by the trappings of constant touring. most second records are disasters. by the fourth i find most artists stale creatively. agree to disagree. love your reviews.
I don’t mind people disagreeing (as long as they don’t call me a moron). I did a spreadsheet of my ratings a few years ago and discovered I often favour the 4th and 5th albums. It doesn’t work for everyone though – there are plenty of examples of never topping the debut, and also bands that started in the 1960s like The Beatles and The Stones quickly released a string of LPs before hitting their stride.
That’s a tough one. For some of the biggest and most consistent bands you could say that their first album was their best. Like Pearl Jams “ten” and Coldplay’s “parachutes”.
But there are far more examples of the fourth-ish album theory.
In any case, all bands are different and all eventually peak and then “jump the shark”.
Nobody knows when, but the band’s real fans figure it out right away.