beabadoobee’s fourth studio album is noise in a blender. Drawing from midwest emo and grunge, Pylon feels like a long-awaited natural development of her alternative rock debut album, Fake It Flowers. This new body of work explores feelings of homesickness, passion and frustration that she experienced on tour.
The title track acts as a thesis, introducing us to the themes of the album. After a tender acoustic guitar introduction, beabadoobee confesses “I’d rather be nowhere with you / Than somewhere without you”, which appears to be a pure, sweet declaration of love. However, the wish for this person to “Hold me like a screen / Disconnected from reality” complicates the matter: reality is dissatisfying at best, and horrifying at worst. The relationship is a respite, but the notion of a “screen” suggests passivity and mindless consumption. Add on top of that the distance between the couple, and the central themes of Pylon are established.
Also, both poles of the album’s dynamic range are introduced in this track; the quiet start grows into a layered, expansive instrumental of distorted guitars. This is how Pylon moves.
‘Sun Has Set’ picks up the pace with a sizzling guitar riff and upbeat tempo. The lyrics express conviction about moving on from somebody, for good. This single, its midwest emo influences, and an excess amount of time on my hands had me lined up outside HMV at 9:30am on album release day.
Moody and controlled, ‘Switchblade’ is a highlight of Pylon. In the chorus, there are two vocal layers: one in beabadoobee’s lower register, the other doubling the first layer in a shouty belt. This contrast portrays a kind of anger that simmers below the surface: restrained but volatile. In terms of song ordering, the tracks roughly flicker between uncertainty and certainty, as beabadoobee teeters on the power line between two pylons.
‘Write Me A Letter’ shifts the turntable needle to uncertainty. The speaker feels anxious about being away from her partner: “Need you to stay / You make me better / Harder to say / But I’ll write you a letter.” Letters are a recurring symbol, particularly in emo music, that songwriters use to explore the tension between expression and anxious repression. This works especially well in the context of the long distance relationship that beabadoobee is writing about.
Perhaps the following track, ‘It’s Alright’, is the letter she has written: a grand confession of desire and affection. In a chant-like chorus, beabadoobee asks the addressee to “Waste my time”. This one would be amazing live. Makes me want to buy a last-minute ticket to see her on the Powerlines Tour this Autumn.
Continuing on the lovey-dovey theme, Pylon’s eighth track, ‘Memories’, is positively cute. This song depicts beabadoobee’s renewal of faith in love: “Found through you that love like this is not so hard to find.” This is the core of the album – despite the distance, the speaker’s memories with her lover make the angst of separation worthwhile. Their memories together are like the aforementioned screen tiding her over. For OG fans, beabadoobee’s sweet vocal delivery on this track is reminiscent of her 2019 bedroom pop EP, Loveworm.
‘Nothing to Prove’ features guest backing vocals from Hayley Williams, the blueprint’s blueprint. I find this song to be instrumentally spectacular but lyrically underwhelming; it makes sense, though, as beabadoobee is confident she has “nothing to prove”. Respect.
The next few tracks are enjoyable as individual songs and circle around preestablished concepts. Listening to Pylon top to bottom, though, I feel that the second half is overall less compelling than the first.
However, the final song, ‘Satellite’, is Pylon’s standout track. As well as being about devotion, the lyrics touch on the difficulty of contemporary life: “If only I knew how to cope with the times”. The quiet verse and loud chorus format works well here, sustaining and releasing tension effectively. It’s important for me to note that beabadoobee’s slight vocal distortion in the chorus makes my emo heart sing. I now long to see her develop this vocal effect – and the general sound of this new album – further.
As the blender dies down, the final sounds you hear in Pylon are epic guitar harmonics. Enjoy your milkshake.
7/10
Image credits: @radvxz on Instagram
