this is the first whirr album i listened to in full (i think), and i have to say, i'm super impressed. 'feels like you' manages to swaddle me in love and warmth, smotheringly sweet. it's like being in an initially toxic relationship, kind of. it's sweet at its most wonderful moments- so sweet, you almost can't imagine anything else. so sweet it's addicting. you never want to leave. you never want to be anywhere else. the good moments sweep the bad moments under a rug, and by the time you're stuck in the iron, unyielding arms of the album, you've already forgotten anything bad even happened. the bad moments are scary by themselves. they're enough to make anyone crumble, even the strongest emotionally and physically. you are entirely at war with yourself and your lover; every good thing you've ever had is cheap and faulty now. everything you ever known is nothing but the cut of a scalpel. facing them and making it through to the other side yields a glorious triumph over your own faults and your partner's. it's sunny, but not without its work.
this album brings up a lot of dense, packed feelings within me. it encases me in its sound, isolating me from the outside world and trapping me in a cocoon of suffocating, soothing noise. it is trapping. it's like watching a car crash. it's beautiful. it has caught me entirely in the wreckage. i LOVE IT!!!
i've been listening to a lot more of whirr's work recently. this specific album pokes out to me because of the pulling, pushing, swaying motions it takes on. while some say whirr's previous work is repetitive, i can't help but disagree. i think they play with atmosphere, something i've always admired and looked for in music.
their sound here is absolutely marvelous. they capture this weird sense of yearning very well. i'm trapped in a web of something i can't put a name to, but have always experienced.
very well done!
'raw blue' is a narrative follow-up to 'feels like you.' 'raw blue' exists in dreams, where you wander between the waking world and unreality. it is not transparent, but more of a dim fog that covers you like that carpet between good and bad things; it is noticeable, ever-present, ever-visible, but not a real obstacle. it obscures your vision, preventing you from seeing anything else. still, you have to walk.
where 'feels like you' is soft and romantic while still tugging at melancholic yearning, 'raw blue' is akin to its album cover: spinning solitary, hopelessly independent. 'raw blue' is lonely. it's knowing something isn't good for you because you know better, but it aches to separate. 'raw blue' is a cold hole in your heart. its dreams paint hopelessly empty, snowy, concrete cities, but also beautiful meadows and lights at the end of tunnels that only seem to be getting further out of reach.
soundwise, the band's sound only gets better. songs like 'enjoy everything' have wonderful musical ornamentation (a muted trumpet in this case), making the spinning feeling improve even more. the atmosphere crushes you, smothering you in sweet sound. 'raw blue' is reminiscing on a goodbye kiss. it's feeling the warmth of your lover in your bed, smelling their scent and hearing their laughter, long after they've left. it is a staticky kiss, pins and needles of hypothermia freezing skin that rejects close. songs like 'swing me' pulse in and out, pain throbbing and aching like a heart pulsating outside of the body.
in heat lies the chill of sweat, like in 'crush tones.' in the cold lies the warmth of hypothermia (enjoy everything). the comparison between 'raw blue' and 'feels like you' has been likened to yin and yang. indeed, there is presence of love and warmth in 'raw blue;' bliss soothing the listener into a lull of euphoria, heady and sweet on the tongue. and 'feels like you' is not scarce of its scary agony, claws tearing deep into flesh and ripping where it hurts. i scratch what i said about 'feels like you:' the inclusion of trumpet on the ending track was utter genius.
yes im doing a serious review of this. im procrastinating my physics homework and im insanely bored
sabrina's latest album is in the wake of the success of 'short 'n sweet.' where short 'n sweet focused on the rollercoaster lows and highs of being a very beautiful woman in a world where power is regained through laughing and reminiscing on terrible relationships from the top of a cloud, this entire album is more mournful and regretful. as it turns out, there is serious baggage that comes with quick and fun relationships. 'short 'n sweet' hides its troubles in the nooks and crannies of clouds, while 'man's best friend' brings the problems of turbulent relationships to the forefront of its messages about men.
sabrina's voice has matured, specifically in songs like 'sugar talking.' shes coming into her own as a singer, and although i dont make it a habit to listen to pop all of the time, i think pop is popular for a reason: sabrina has mastered the art of honey-sweet vocals, comprehensible and easy lyrics, and electric instrumentals. they're well-made songs, even if people complain about the lyrics. her humor and sass is easy to love, especially when theyre accompanied by the light and smooth sounds of the backing music.
im still in love with her instrumentals. songs like 'we almost broke up again last night,' although the lyrics dont stun, are able to allure me just with the dedicated care given to the instrumental and the background. her and her producers are most definitely starting to experiment with different styles and borrowing from different places in the music industry. sabrina carpenter, i think, is proof that pop is changing. pop songs are becoming more complex musically, even if their lyrical content varies.
no matter what forms they take or where they come from (cough some chappell roan in 'go go juice,' dolly parton in 'don't worry i'll make you worry'), this album is extremely fun to listen to.
i think she should go do a country album but thats... extremely self indulgent
i got suggested to listen to this by a friend i made recently, so i figured i would. it was advertised to me as radiohead-adjacent, which i thought was fun, so i listened to it through that lens. i feel like i should have gone in with no expectations at all. radiohead holds too high a position in my heart to be overtaken.
this album is kind of like if deftones and mcr had a baby. i think the comparison to radiohead has ground but isnt really something i can agree with: the lyricism isnt quite there yet, not as abstract. still, the vocals and instrumentals from the very beginning and end of the album remind me so much of 'the bends' that it made my heart ache.
'sober' and 'unintended,' as well as 'hate this and i'll love you,' are by far my favorite songs on this album. they are full of energy; not necessarily hard, screaming, angry energy or aggression, but a burning passion that roars to a boil as much as it enjoys simmering. 'sunburn' does a great job of really selling the album, but i'd be a fool to say the energy is kept up or the passion is explored more. the lyricism falls flat in a few places, but the gems in this album i think give it a really great show. i think it fell flat in the first half, but the second half was absolutely spectacular. i dont know what didnt captivate me about the first half, but i had almost given up until 'showbiz' came on, and i was immediately pulled back in.
i did some more research and apparently them being a radiohead clone is a common criticism when it comes to this album, but i think that's unjustified. you can tell where the inspiration comes from, but i dont think a british guy screaming passionately about hurt in his soul over a humming, blazing guitar and a drumbeat-to-death rock tune makes something a radiohead clone. like, you can definitely hear the inspiration, but i don't think it's fair to define this album based on that, i just think people are looking at something to pick on. i dont think an album being derivative of the greats is proof that the album is automatically bad, it's proof that the greats were just... that good. to say that an album is derivative to be derivative is an insult to both groups; it may be restricting their emotional expression, but they are practicing the techniques and skills given to them by other bands to innovate new techniques and new ways of writing and new lyrics and new things. we wouldn't get anywhere without things being derivative of other things first, we're constantly referencing the past to create new things. it already becomes new, just with our perspective on it. it isn't the same album. i think this is a band drawing on what seems to be popular and what they know; this is a band finding their sound, finding their identities.
i dont think the album is just okay because it doesnt live up to the style i expected, but because i see a learning and developing band in the lyricism. rhythmically, they're spectacular. i enjoyed all of the instrumentals i heard. in the sense of instrumentals and beats, they have a mastery of pace. their creative spirit just needs more kindling.
i've been informed this probably wasn't the best album to start out on. maybe a review of one of their other albums will come out in a bit.