In her third album, Spellling expands her musical scope and finds comfort in celebrating life within mystical and theatrical soundscapes.
For her past two albums, Spellling has been coasting off in this hazy art-pop stylism that’s uniquely her own, paired with lyrics that are a bit short but occasionally paint a fascinating picture, vocals that are hypnotizing and a bit alien, and production that are usually synthetic and warm. So for the lead singles leading up to this album, I was just mesmerized and amazed by the lush and theatrical presentation and said three singles are incredibly promising to boot. This became one of my anticipated albums of this year, and I was hoping it would turn out extremely well!
I’m pretty happy to say that this album did exceed my expectations quite a lot, because Spellling expands from her craft on all fronts, from the lyrics, the production, the songwriting, and especially her vocals.
So let’s start there because as a performer, Spellling exudes a natural mysticism and yearning charisma that she hasn’t shown off a lot from her past albums. She goes to sing in her upper register while also making use of her baritone tones to balance things out, which emphasizes the mystical and theatrical presentation of the album a lot.
And when it comes to the production and the structure, it holds up for the most part. The lush and baroque touches from the first half, and the gothic and organic synth touches from the back half. I will admit that there are certain synth touches and languid melodies that don't fully stick for me that crop up on some tracks but for the most part, there are so many theatrical and sparkling musical nuggets across this album, like the opener ‘Little Deer’ with its grand brass horns and strings, ‘Awaken’ with its imposing strings and guitars, ‘Boys at School’ with its darker simmers of organic synths, drums, and electric guitars, ‘Queen of Wands’ with its gothic synthesizers, ‘Magic Act’ with the great use of electric guitars, ‘Revolution’ that slowly unfurls into a literal firework show accented with jazzy piano chords, ‘Emperor with an Egg’ with its jaunty and adventurous swells, ‘Sweet Talk’ with its slow but epic closure, ‘Legacy’ with the acoustic strumming before it switches up with these mewing synths, ‘The Future’ with a spelunking instrumentation, ‘Turning Wheel’ with its upward buildups, and even ‘Always’ with its slower and pulping grooves even with the rather languid melody.
I think there’s something about the poetry too that I quite loved. Unlike her past records, there is a much clearer theme this time around. There is this sense of introversion that lurks at every turn, signifying a sense of anxiety and doubt about what is out there beyond. But it all changes around as that introversion dissipates and is replaced with a sense of knowing beyond what is out there on the back half, and it also details this drive of living and gaining strength in what we know and finally finding the worth of that discovery at the end of the tunnel. Yes, it can still feel rather scattered at spots, but it is celebratory once you get the gist of it all.
It is one of the most mystical and theatrical musical experiences to date, and that is thanks to Spellling’s growth as a songwriter, singer, and producer. Some of you might miss this wondrous experience, and I think you should get to it sooner rather than later.
Favorite Tracks: Little Deer, Turning Wheel, Boys At School, Awaken, Emperor with an Egg, Magic Act, Revolution, Legacy, Queen of Wands, Sweet Talk
Least Favorite Track: Always