Lorde
Pure Heroine (2013)
Lorde, Lorde, Lorde, fucking Lorde. She seems to be all anyone is talking about, especially if you are a frequent consumer of Triple J's radio and social media offerings. Lorde is THE cool artist to like, to the point where the J's are trying desperately to shoehorn her into anything (witness their attempt to say that the line, "Yeah", in the song Tennis Court, is one of the most memorable lyrics of the year. Either their expectations of lyrical quality are fucking low, or somebody's gone LOL GET LORDE IN THE ARTICLE SOMEHOW LOL.)
It's time to see whether this flavour of the month teen pop star from New Zealand is the real deal, or just another Melissa Tkautz (ask your parents, kids.)
The Album
It's safe to say that I am just not supposed to 'get' this album. Clearly I am too old/uncool/unhip/all of the above to understand and love Lorde's minimalist, echo-drenched electropop offerings, because quite frankly I found this album to be an extraordinarily boring experience. By about the sixth or seventh song, I really was at the point where I was listening because I had to for the purposes of the project, rather than because the music was engaging or exciting.
Part of the the problem for me is that when 99% of your soundscape is electronically generated noise courtesy of ProTools, a synthesiser and a Casio keyboard drum pattern, everything sounds the fucking same. The album is wall to wall Lorde singing with disaffected melancholia over sparse, electronic beats. If that's your thing, fine. It certainly isn't mine.
There are some positives, though. Lorde (real name Ella Yelich-O'Connor) is a really, really good singer. On some tracks (such as 400 Lux, Royals and Ribs) her vocal ability really shines through; Royals in particular shows it, partly because of the very minimalist production. It's pretty much just Lorde and a drum machine, with sparse synthesiser and it works. I would go so far to say that Royals is definitely worth the hype - a wonderfully crafted and quite acerbic attack on the celebrity and bling obsessed modern pop artist. She is also a very talented lyricist, though has an tendency to be a bit "too clever by half", using a very contrived metaphor where sometimes simplicity would be better. The best musical moment, apart from Royals, was at the end of the otherwise quite boring White Teeth Teens; multi-tracked vocals creating a beautiful sonic experience, and no droning electronica in sight.
Unfortunately the droning electronica ruined much of the album for me, and some songs are really just rather pointless. The opener Tennis Court commits two unforgivable sins - firstly, it's boring as batshit, and secondly it claims to be related to tennis YET THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT ACTUAL TENNIS. Seriously, Lorde, do you expect me to believe that people use tennis courts to talk? THEY ARE FOR TENNIS. Buzzcut Season and A World Alone are....just there. They're not crap, they're just....well, there. They don't stand out, they sound like everything else.....as I said, pointless.
The Verdict
So yesterday I said that I was keen to find out whether Lorde was worth all the hype. The answer is mixed. Is Lorde a talented performer and songwriter? Definitely. She's young and has a bright future. I can see her going down the Sia path and becoming a songwriter for others, as well as an accomplished artist in her own right.
Is this album worth the endless masturbatory platitudes handed out to it by the Triple J barons? No. No no no no. Unless you are saying that samey, depressing electropop is ALL THE AWESOME, in which case HYPE MACHINE ACTIVATED!
My rating: **
Standout Tracks
Royals
White Teeth Teens
Team
Tomorrow, it's time to take on one of the most polarising albums in history. Some hail it as a masterpiece, others think it's slightly overrated. It's also an album I haven't listened to in its entirety in some time.....
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