Welcome to the beginning of 2023. Yes, it is a new year already. Rather tense? Well, there's already some new tunes coming. Gabrielle Aplin is a favorite of mine that came out of the Ed Sheeran inspired Brit singer/songwriter circa. "Power of Love" grabbed my attention rather quickly. I wanted to get a solid review in of this new one.
The album begins with single "Skylight". It is a little too soulful for my taste. Feels like it deviates too much from her old style. I would not have felt it was her.
"Never Be the Same" sonically reminds me of a song from Coldplay's "Mylo Xyloto". It is a catchier and more enjoyable selection than the previous track. It does get a bit repetitive though.
"Good Enough" is more what I expect from Aplin. A sentimental and emotional track about wanting to be enough for someone. Also sees the light in another person so beautifully.
"Anyway" seems a decent blend of the newer direction and the old direction. It has a good rhythm to it and could get stuck in your head, despite the lyricism being on the sad side.
"Wish I Didn't Press Send" returns to the very soulful part of the first song of the album, and it makes me less inclined to it. Lyrically, it is not too bad. Just feels a little on the shallow side.
Well this is uh...an adventure now. "Take It Easy" contrasts so much from the rest sonically. It kind of pulls you out of the body of work.
Sonically, "Don't Know What I Want" matches her old stylings more, but lyrically is again repetitive. This album kind of sounds as lost as this song implies.
"Call Me" has nicer lyrics, but I do not like the blend of it sonically much at all.
It is ironic the next track is called "Half in, Half out" because I just began thinking again how it seems to be a common trend for artists today. They do these interviews discussing how this album was "so personal" and forced them to "face their anxieties head on" or something like that. They then go on to write some of the most lifeless, repetitive music known to humanity. Disappointed would be a massive understatement.
"Mariana Trench" feels like it is trying too hard. It usually is not so hard for a musician to wallow in their self-pity. She hasn't really convinced me that is where she is in life.
After getting to "Don't Say", I felt inclined to play "Light Up the Dark" again. Why? Because I needed some ear cleaner to remember I actually liked her music to begin with. I mean, Dear Happy was not exactly the best follow up but it felt like it still had more life than this.
LYRICS: 4/10 - Some stood out, others felt like the shallowest pool I ever heard her fish words out of.
MUSIC: 5/10 - Sonically some things worked and some did not. I don't really like the overly pop/electronic direction she began with Dear Happy. She is not Imogen Heap. This album made it worse by making it more toward the pop rather than alternative direction.
OVERALL: 5/10 - Hard for me to swallow how shallow and lacking this release is. It will be very forgettable by the year end...
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