After gliding over various strains of synthpop for the past couple of projects, Allie X’s newest album claims its 80s gothic darkwave soundscape with a raving aplomb. ‘Girl With No Face’ goes for bigger dramatic touches that, despite some hiccups, Allie X manages to go for big swings with successful touchdowns.
Allie X’s synthpop excursions don’t always tend to stick the landing, not helped out that it has always been that way since the start. Perhaps the factors not only come from the production that usually felt rather stale at best, but also from the melodies and performances that never cut above, and to the writing where the lack of cutting details deflates a lot of personal musings Allie X inputs in the lyricism. But since ‘Cape God’, Allie X seems to put a swerve for herself sonically, pushing herself towards other strains of synthpop aesthetics that she might have the opportunity to explore and letting that exploration allow her to tweak the aspects that have always been a down point in her projects thus far. ‘Girl With No Face’ continues that sonic exploration that Allie X keeps delving through, going deeper and bigger along the way.
Within her curiosity towards gothic and darkwave-tinged synthpop, the overall composition immediately steps above as Allie X brings more electrifying vocal flair amidst the palpable grooves and punchy textures. With an increase of sharper melodies and snappier instrumental moments, it allows many of these songs to rip through with burnish tensity. The tempered beats carrying Allie X’s more restrained delivery on ‘John and Jonathan’, the chilling touches of ‘Saddest Smile’ that give space for the emotional extravagance to let loose, ‘Truly Dreams’ overall crystalline production that sounded effervescently lively from start to finish, the sweeping melodic movements of ‘Galina’ and ‘Black Eye’ where the former song brings dramatic desperation and the latter song carries a sense of confident stride that Allie X just embraces wondrously, and the guitar swivels on ‘Girl With No Face’ and ‘Staying Power’ with their shirking tone bring more a sizzle to the already theatrical melodic swings.
That dramatic swell also gives her writing some cutting flair, as the arc focuses on Allie X’s internal struggles within a world that will crush her throughout. Given how the current environment breaks down her feminine and artistic identity, it eventually seeps into Allie X as she gets more anxious and world-weary about herself and the connections that she has lost, her internal strength breaks down as she thinks more about her internal image, losing her spirit as the disruption around her just gets in her mindscape. Yet, despite all the odds that the world throws at her, she continues to carry herself back up and instills more self-confidence to damn anyone who gives her any sort of bullshit, even if she knows that carrying through more pain will make her feel numbed in repeated processes.
There is a refinement that the project carries through and through, yet there are just parts where Allie X’s willingness to go on bigger grounds doesn’t always tend to work. One of the problems still goes to her vocals, where at times, her choice to belt on cuts like ‘Off With Her Tits’ and ‘Weird World’ just comes off a bit stilted given her airy voice that, without any extra vocal cushions, only makes it thin and fragile. The other issue that the project does have however is the overall writing. Despite the dramatic flair that serves a lot of what Allie X describes, it’s a missed opportunity for the details to get more layered and willing to dig into the darker spaces that the writing often describes, rendering the poetry to feel like it pokes on the surface with a solid display of pressure rather than breaking to expose more layers that she could go exploring further that will allow her poetry to stick more sharply.
Still, despite the issues that pulled the project down, ‘Girl With No Face’ is a general refinement that carries exceptional moments from Allie X across the board regarding her writing, performances, and melodies. It is an exploration of darkwave-tinged synthpop that Allie X gets the job done for the most part, constructing compositions that have enough sticky hooks, exhilarating performances, and impactful production that nail the gothic touches to a tee. The newfound confidence will become a boon for Allie X, wherein the path of looking out to find her particular artistic space, her voice will lead her to the face that she will consider hers, and hers only.
Favorite Tracks: ‘Girl With No Face’, ‘John and Jonathan’, ‘Galina’, ‘Black Eye’, ‘Saddest Smile’, ‘Staying Power’, ‘Truly Dreams’
Least Favorite Track: ‘Hardware Software’