Love’s Labour’s Lost in Space…
New Music this week takes a look and listen to the second full-length solo release from the former Chairlift frontwoman, featuring guest appearances from Dido and Grimes. It’s the best of her career—at any point—and its rich, passionate melodies transform the darkness of loneliness into the light of love.
Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
Caroline Polachek
Art Pop
Knowing that Chairlift is gone still stings a bit. The arty, Boulder, Colorado synthpop band provided a little natural sunlight and maturity to a musical arena that was (and still is) overcrowded with groups that are just in it for the neon and nostalgia points. But when former frontwoman Caroline Polachek released Pang in 2019, she eased the pain a tad, even if it felt a little like a missed opportunity for more.
Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, is that more. This is the culmination of what Caroline Polachek can become in the pop sphere on her own terms: a mind-bending queen of musical emotion.
Album opener “Welcome to my Island” begins with a dense vocal chorale of layers before abruptly cutting to incredibly cool—almost cold—beats, especially for a song about an island with palm trees. Polachek’s delivery is stuttered, like a robot slowly coming to realize the ache of feeling, becoming more expressive as the song goes on until she goes full daddy-issues rap by the end. It’s confusing in the most delightful way.
“Bunny Is a Rider” contains an genius sample loop, combining a distant whistle and an adorable cooing baby. It’s this kind of ingenuity—combining the best techniques of Panda Bear and The Weeknd—that makes the whole track feel like an old, familiar friend and a new crush at the same time. Plus, that line, “Dirty like it’s Earth Day…” *chef’s kiss.
The dark 90’s drum-n-bass beat of “I Believe,” complete with Stravinsky string stab samples, reminds me of a Black Tie White Noise-era Bowie B-side. That this song is also (supposedly) an elegy to the late, great SOPHIE adds even more weight to lines like “look over the edge, but not too far,” and Polachek’s delivery of the emotionally devastating chorus “I don’t know, but I believe we’ll get another day together.”
After half an album of very Grimes-like songs and production, now she appears. In a moment of writing and production brilliance, Grimes, and the sorely missed Dido (where have you been, m’lady?) take on the verse duties of “Fly To You,” leaving Polachek’s chorus to soar over the hyper-busy breakbeat in an almost too on-the-nose symbol of the song’s title.
“Blood and Butter” (great name, btw) is Polachek’s best Haim impersonation, but her use of soft-rock songwriting and acoustic guitar adds a very special element that makes the lovesick gut punch of the chorus that much more…oof. This may be the most sugary of the songs on Desire…, but it’s also among the very best pop rock songs of this millennium. Plus, that bagpipe might be the only time the instrument was a good idea.
The incredibly eerie gating of “Butterfly Net”s wurlitzer creates a magnificent juxtaposition with its quirky percussion, in an obvious allusion to Peter Gabriel and Laurie Anderson’s utterly fantastic, perpetually underrated “This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds).” All this is a brilliantly primed launching point for Polachek’s vocal acrobatics, which see her flying higher than ever, swooning and diving in the most thrilling display.
And here we have what is a strong, Strong, STRONG contender for Song of the Year, album closer “Billions.” Shockingly, this was the second single released for this album cycle (who does that? releases the closer as a single?), but given the vast talent on display and the truly perfect songwriting, who can blame her? Polachek’s lyrics are at their most Bat For Lashes-inspired with lines like “psycho, priceless, good in a crisis,” and “here’s the pearl, I’m the oyster,” while her vocal delivery is at times Alanis Morrissette and at others St. Vincent.
And just when you think the cup of anticipation will overflow, the lyrics cut to a haunting instrumental solo (I have no idea what that sound is, but if you can tell me PLEASE do), which then leads to the musical moment of the year: an absolutely, perfectly arranged children’s choir singing the song’s refrain, adding more and more rounds of voices on each repeat. The effect is so heartwarming and awe-inspiring that you get chills from the cold, outside world. An impeccable way to end an album as rich and full as this one.
Caroline Polachek has taken a giant leap forward in her already stunning career, creating an album that is easily one of the most enthralling listening experiences in pop. Desire, I Want to Turn Into You is a true masterpiece.
