New music

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/09/2021 (1505 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

POP / ROCK

Lorde

Solar Power (Republic)

“‘Cause all the music you loved at 16, you’ll grow out of,” Lorde sings wistfully on Stoned at the Nail Salon from her third album, Solar Power. The claim is slightly disingenuous, however: Lorde was 16 when Royals became a megahit in 2012, and that’s not a song to grow out of.

On her first two albums, 2013’s Pure Heroine and 2017’s Melodrama, Lorde wrote sharply observant songs about teen anxiety and heartbreak and celebrity culture. Now 24, she doesn’t want to be a spokesperson for youthful angst. “You need someone to take your pain for you? Well, that’s not me,” she declares in The Path.

Solar Power has a sunnier disposition than her earlier releases. She finds escape and solace in warm days at the beach on the title track (which is indebted to both Primal Scream’s Loaded and George Michael’s Freedom ‘90). She looks at new age wellness culture with a joyful wink in Mood Ring and tells her younger self to “do your best to trust the rays of light” on Secrets from a Girl (Who’s Seen It All).

Again working with the ubiquitous producer Jack Antonoff, Lorde brightens her minimalist arrangements. Several tracks feature a backing chorus that included Clairo and Phoebe Bridgers. Robyn provides a humorous voice-over cameo.

Solar Power is light, and a bit lightweight, and it’s easy to enjoy. ★★★ out of five

STREAM THESE: The Path, Mood Ring

—Steve Klinge

INDIE FOLK

Big Red Machine

How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? (Jagjaguwar)

Big Red Machine’s How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? is equal to the sum of its many distinguished parts. The second indie-folk album from the National’s Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon is much more song-centered than its 2018 predecessor, and Dessner is first among equals this time: he had a hand in composing all the songs, often co-writing with Vernon and the numerous guest vocalists; he plays many of the instruments (his moody, circular piano lines anchor most tracks); he sings lead vocals, for the first time, on a pair of tracks.

Dessner worked with Taylor Swift on last year’s folklore and evermore, and Swift collaborates on two songs here, including the wonderful Renegade, the album’s most upbeat moment. Other female vocalists abound (as they did on the National’s last album): Anais Mitchell, auteur of Hadestown and member of Bonny Light Horseman, takes the lead twice and duets with Fleet Foxes’s Robin Pecknold once; Sharon Van Etten, Lisa Hannigan and Shara Nova sing with Vernon on Hutch, a tribute to the late Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit; This is the Kit’s Kate Stables duets with Ben Howard on June’s a River.

Dessner seems to have scrolled through his contact list to draft collaborators, but the album coheres because of the near-constant presence of Vernon’s voice, either in the foreground or background, and of the songs’ ruminative tones and nostalgic themes. ★★★★ out five

STREAM THESE: Hutch, Renegade

— Steve Klinge

JAZZ

Terence Blanchard

Absence (Blue Note)

Trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard’s new album is a musical tribute to saxophonist Wayne Shorter, a jazz icon and a major influence on Blanchard’s music. Blanchard has had a number of releases that demonstrate his skills with both small and large ensembles. He has written at least one opera and has worked effectively with Spike Lee and as composer for numerous movie soundtracks. This album features his E-Collective: pianist Fabian Almazan, guitarist Charles Altura, bassist David Ginyard and drummer Oscar Seaton. Also on board is San Francisco’s Turtle Island String Quartet.

Blanchard is totally comfortable writing for a blend of strings with more conventional instrumentation. Whether taking the stage as in The Second Wave or playing with the full ensemble, there is full communication by the string quartet..

The playlist is about 50 per cent Shorter tunes, with the other half coming from members of the E-Collective or the Turtle Island Quartet. Generally driving rhythms prevail along with more ballad-like moments. The opening title track, Absence, is a fine example of subtle, complex harmonies and rhythms being presented in a beautifully accessible form. Shorter’s Diana is another such example. It starts with a single violin and builds through the quartet before Blanchard and the E-Collective enter about four minutes in. It is simply beautiful. Blanchard’s trumpet can be fiery or gentle, often with an electric doubling of the sound that is uniquely his. The Shorter compositions are given wonderful covers. The Elders and Fall are standouts and the emotional homage is apparent.

A wonderful Shorter quote that I love is, “Jazz means I dare you.” Blanchard has written a terrific tune with that title that fits in to the tribute concept perfectly. Throughout his career Blanchard has answered the “dare” behind any of his music. The last track is a brief jam on The Elders, and ends a truly fine album. ★★★★1/2 out of five

STREAM THESE: Fall, Diana

— Keith Black

CLASSICAL

W.A. Mozart: String Quartets dedicated to Joseph Haydn

K. 421, 458 ‘Hunt’, 464

Cuarteto Casals (Harmonia Mundi)

This release, due out in early September, features three of Mozart’s string quartets dedicated to Joseph Haydn, performed by the Cuarteto Casals — Abel Tomàs Realp, violin; Vera Martínez Mehner, violin; Jonathan Brown, viola; and Arnau Tomàs Realp, cello.

This latest disc also provides a bookend for the prior release from the Spanish group — founded in 1997 at Madrid’s Escuela Reina Sofía — of Mozart’s Haydn Quartets, K428, 465 and 387, thus completing their recordings of the famous set of six works published in 1785.

String Quartet in D minor K421 sees the players digging hard into the gloomy depths of its primary theme that nonetheless brightens during the Allegro moderato, before easing into a kinder, gentler Andante. The penultimate section, Menuetto-Trio, displays the well-balanced ensemble’s collective crisp attack, including pizzicato accompaniment during the Trio, before a rousing Allegretto, unfolding as a theme and variations.

Quartet in B flat major K458, is fondly nicknamed the “Hunt” for its evocation of pastoral hunting horns through the triadic motifs infusing the opening Allegro vivace assai. The album’s beating heart proves to be this particular quartet’s slower-paced Adagio, showcasing Realp’s expressive artistry through his plaintive violin solo line, before returning to brighter spirits during finale Allegro assai.

Also included is Quartet in A major K464, with the musicians instilling clarity to its more densely packed, contrapuntal textures, first heard during the opening Allegro. This becomes further heightened during the Menuetto-Trio with only slight repose offered in the Andante, another variation form, with its sixth a highlight for its ostinato figure performed by the Realp’s cello. The work — and album — closes with the Allegro non troppo, fuelled by tightly coiled chromaticism and imitative writing, with this last offering of the set dedicated to Papa Haydn, so firmly bearing the handprint of his celebrated successor. ★★★★ ½ out of five

STREAM THIS: Adagio from Mozart’s String Quartet in B flat major K458, performed by the Cuarteto Casals

— Holly Harris