New music: Michael Clifford, Alex G, GoGo Penguin, Alexander Melnikov
Sidequest (Hopeless)
More than a decade ago, the Australian pop-punk boy band 5 Seconds of Summer emerged as charming genre-revivalists. The 2014 career-making single She Looks So Perfect was all palm-muted power chords and gang vocals, a familiar sound for fans of the Warped Tour scene.
In the years since, the quartet evolved into a full-on arena pop-rock act, taking turns at releasing solo material. Next up is lead guitarist Michael Clifford, the edgiest of the bunch, with a spirited solo debut album that feels truer to the band's earliest material than their most recent.
Ten energetic, introspective tracks form a tight album that explores self-doubt, fame and romance. The songs are pop-punk in spirit but deviate from the formula with a stadium-sized production: experimental electronics, big synths and versatile vocals.
And it is an emotional journey. The lovesick opener Kill Me for Always, featuring Porter Robinson, sets the stage, with its scintillating mix of electronica and bass. The sound of Cool acts as the strongest evidence of Clifford's former boy band roots. It's self-deprecating and self-aware.
In an album stuffed with energetic songs juxtaposed with existential lyrics, the best track arrives at a midpoint high in Enough. 'At 3 a.m. awake again / I can see all of the damage you've done,' Clifford sings through an evocative rasp. 'With friends like you who needs a loaded gun.'
Sidequest sets out to prove it's both a culmination of the last decade of Clifford's life and a deviation from it, as he steps into his own sound. Thankfully, for fans, it succeeds. The debut album reflects Clifford's maturation and self-agency, despite the insecurities and doubts that creep in throughout. ★★★½ out of five
Stream: Enough; Cool
— Rachel S. Hunt, The Associated Press
Alex G
Headlights (RCA)
Fame is a double-edge sword. Though it comes with obvious perks — money, opportunity and praise — it can also prompt a kind of existential reckoning. Now what? Is this all there is? Am I changed because of it and, if so, for better or for worse?
This is the kind of wrestling Alex Giannascoli, better known as the influential indie rocker Alex G, performs on Headlights, his 10th album and first on a major label.
Although Giannascoli achieved success early in his career — collaborating with Frank Ocean on his critically acclaimed 2016 album Blonde and joining the R&B superstar on tour — he has, until recently, been more frequently labelled a cult indie figure than a household name.
But the 32-year-old has risen to prominence in recent years, particularly after his 2022 album, God Save the Animals, which marked a distinct shift from his austere, lo-fi sound to more robust production and instrumentation. He has since collaborated with the pop star Halsey on her latest record and scored filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun's horror hit, I Saw the TV Glow.
That trajectory informs Giannascoli's contemplative poignancy on Headlights. 'Some things I do for love / Some things I do for money / It ain't like I don't want it / It ain't like I'm above it,' he admits on the Beam Me Up, his whirring guitars strumming mesmerizingly against airy background vocals.
Many of his lyrics are poetically inscrutable, but there are also moments of explicit frankness about ambition, self-doubt, transition and success. With Headlights, Giannascoli continues further down his God Save the Animals sonic pivot to higher fidelity, recording in studios in lieu of his home for a more ornate sound. ★★★★ out of five
Stream: Beam Me Up; Bounce Boy
— Krysta Fauria, The Associated Press
GoGo Penguin
Necessary Fictions (XXIM)
GoGo Penguin is a trio from Manchester, England, helping with the ongoing development of the possibilities of a jazz trio. (The name came about as a need to find a name for the group quickly at the start of its career. The members decided on GoGo Penguin based on an apparently ugly stuffed penguin bought by one of the band members.) The band stopped performing for several years recently, owing to personal losses and health issues. The jazz world celebrates their 'rebirth.'
The trio is Chris Illingworth on piano, Nick Blacka on bass and Jon Scott on drums. Its sound is distinctive, incorporating influences from various rock and classical elements as well as the solid jazz foundation. Common features include what is described as a minimalist piano style, but even more dramatic is a pattern of a repeated foundational riff that becomes a relentless continuo. It drives the rhythm forward in fascinating patterns as the melody and harmonies swirl around it.
The opening track, Umbra, is an example of the trio's style that sets the album up beautifully. What We Are and What We Are Meant To Be also takes the gentle melody and delivers it in a driving rhythmic underpinning.
Unlike earlier releases, for the first time there is a guest vocalist, Daudi Matsiko, on Forgive the Damages, and an eight-piece string group called the Manchester Collective on several tracks. Luminous Giants and State of Flux put all the pieces together while maintaining the trio's signature sound.
This album is a wonderful example of a trio developing an intent and experimentation while maintaining the sound and style for which they have been known. An ugly stuffed penguin might have led to its name, but GoGo Penguin is beautiful. ★★★★½
Stream: Naga Ghost, The Turn Within
— Keith Black
Visiting Rachmaninoff
Alexander Melnikov, Julia Lezhneva (Harmonia Mundi)
In this thoughtful new release, pianist Alexander Melnikov performs Rachmaninoff's Variations on a Theme by Chopin, Op. 22, a set of 22 short variations penned in 1902-03 and based on its namesake composer's Prelude in C minor (Op. 28, No. 20).
What is particularly noteworthy is that Melnikov paid a visit to Rachmaninoff's last summer home. located at Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, recording the work on the 20th century composer's personal Steinway piano, thus inviting listeners into his unique soundworld.
Melnikov's artistry allows him to craft each variation as its own distinct entity; each proving no match for his virtuosic technique.
Following his dramatically rendered opening theme, the pianist then launches into the work with gusto. Particular highlights include such quicker-paced variations as the third and eighth, as well as the slower, more expressive offerings as Variation XVI, Lento, which flows into Variation 17, Grave, the latter highly introspective.
Also featured is a selection of Rachmaninoff's 15 Romances, Opp. 21, 26 and 34 with Melnikov joined by renowned soprano Julia Lezhneva. This provides satisfying musical contrast as well as the opportunity to hear the luminous artist plumb the depths of each piece.
Her deeply felt interpretations of No. 9, Again, I am alone, and No. 10, Before my window, both excerpted from Op. 26, are additional album highlights, further showcasing the singer's innate expressiveness and steeped-in-Russian soul. ★★★★ out of five
Stream: Variations on a Theme by Chopin, Op. 22; 15 Romances, Op. 26, Before my window
— Holly Harris
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