Poppy : "Zig"

 

The last album I heard from her was 2020's "I Disagree" so the transition is more dramatic of a jump. Her fifth album opens with the moody groove of  "Church Outfit", which finds her stepping more solidly into pop. Is it more quirky and darker than most mainstream pop? Yes. "Knock Off" is almost mainstream pop except for her lyrics going sideways at times and she sings about trailer parks. Her vocal performance has smoothed way down since the last album. For what this is it still works, but if you want the jarring experimental wildness she has captured in the past, well two songs in it's too soon to say.  "Hard" has an interesting atmosphere that toys with noise at the periphery, but it is very controlled in the mix. She goes in more aggressive vocals but this outburst is very brief for her. 

Strings lead into "What it Becomes". She continues to use the short hip-hop-influenced pop phrasing here, creating a melody that is more rhythmic than melodic. She keeps things in a single lane when it comes to the stylistic scope of the album so far. Musically "Flicker" is more interesting, but the lyrics are about her car and other vapid materialistic shit. The first guitar I hear is on "1s 0s". It's another song where the musical backdrop for her to play with is more complex than what she chooses to do with her melodies. Lyrically this song is less conforming than some of the previous tracks. 

The title track is one of the album's strongest songs, as it incorporates beefy rock guitar and her vocal melody does not try to adhere to the pop rule book. "Linger" is more of a ballad, with some weird synth sounds coloring the odd-timed beat. Her melodies could be more supported by a less minimalist bass line. "the Attic" would be another pop ballad if it was not for the break-beat drums that come in and keep things moving. To her credit, she does not require an entire assembly line of producers and songwriters to pull this off like most pop artists these days,. "Motorbike" has a funkier futuristic groove. Perhaps not as hooky as the pop artists who are whoring for the labels, it's still pretty damn catchy. 

The jarring bipolar twist of the last song is what this album needs more of as it is what made "I Disagree" stand out. I will give this album a 9, it's really well-done radio-ready pop music, runs through her eccentric filter to a lesser extent than previous releases, but that is still more than enough to set her apart from the TikTok pandering artists your kids are listening to.