Songs of the year, number 2: Allie X - Galina [ft. Empress Of] (Official Video)

While I was personally disappointed by Allie X's 2024 album, Girl With No Face, it would be fair to say that it was a mood thing rather than a musical thing: Allie X has, this year, homed in on a kind of early 80s dark synth sound that just wasn't chiming with me, but which was perfectly serviceable from a musical perspective. It is, to be fair, very hard to dislike an artist who pens a mentalist slice of 80s industrial called 'Off With Her Tits'. 

The crystalline pop of 'Galina' also has its origins in 80s synth pop but it shimmers and shines in a way that sees it transcend its origins and become a dark pop anthem in its own right. The addition of Empress Of on the single version adds texture and additional layers to what was already a darkly complex piece. As is always the case with Allie X, the result is complex, sophisticated synth pop with a beating heart. Tremendous. 

Allie X - Galina (Lyric Video)

I must confess, I was disappointed by Allie X's new album, Girl With No Face. Not because it was in any way bad, but because I just hadn't expected her to take things in such a dark, early 80s electro direction and, as such, wasn't ready for it. I may change my mind in time, but for now, it's not for me. 'Galina' is, for me, the album's standout track and I feel like it represents a nod to the crystalline pop of X's previous outings, especially Super Sunset, and despite (or perhaps because of) its overwhelming sense of grief, it is a flawless slice of sophisticated electro pop.

3 songs... signalling incoming new albums

 

The Last Dinner Party have not long finished their sold out headline tour with labelmates Picture Parlour. I was lucky enough to attend and review the Manchester gig, and as such can attest to what an electrifying live presence they are. Latest single 'My Lady of Mercy' was released about a week before the Manchester show, and - as with previous singles 'Nothing Matters' and 'Sinner' - it shows the eclectic influences and styles that the band are drawing on. It's very different to their two previous singles, and yet it doesn't sound out of place when placed next to them somehow. Their debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy, will be released in February 2024.

Sleater-Kinney will release their 11th album Little Rope on January 19th. Calling card 'Hell' is a searing and powerful whiplash of a song, with a video starring Miranda July that screams of claustrophobia, self loathing and the hangover of the plague years. It's a strong indicator of what is to come I think. The video is directed by Ashley Connor.

Allie X has released a self directed video to coincide with the release of 'Black Eye', her first material in nearly four years. As with the criminally underrated Cape God album of 2020, she's tapping into a darker sound than has been the case previously. There will be more soon apparently... 

Allie X – Casanova ft. VÉRITÉ

Sometime last year I decided that Allie X was the unsung art pop goddess of our times, and I stand by that today: She is. The ear worm that is 'Casanova' was released in 2017, a full three years before the dark pop masterpiece that was last years Cape God, and it shows X at her subversive pop best. She's a woman with an unlimited supply of great hooks, which she deploys to great effect, making for a range of irresistible bangers. 

That will be all for today class. 

Songs of the year, number 20: Allie X - Susie Save Your Love ft. Mitski (Lyric Video)

The dreamy, blissful electro slink of 'Susie Save Your Love' is taken from my favourite album of the year, Cape God. It features Mitski and evokes fond memories of Prince and the Revolution as well as a time when we were allowed out to nightclubs and to have stupid drunken adventures afterwards. Those times will come again and, in the meantime, there's always Allie X, Mitski and Cape God. 

Pandemic pop music: Or, why Allie X's Cape God should be up there with Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia in the end of year lists

Earlier this year, probably not long after the UK went into lockdown, a number of well placed and well respected music journalists in the UK began to remark upon a specific 2020 music theme: Party albums for the pandemic age. 

Lady Gaga's Chromatica, a back-to-my-roots slice of hedonistic turbo charged pop which was released in late May, was one example of the emerging oevre, but the main release people referenced again and again was Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia, which was released on 27th March 2020, four days after the UK went into lockdown. 

Listening to Future Nostalgia, it's easy to see why so many critics fell for it: It's exuberant, assertive, confident and stylish in tone. It's also good hedonistic pop music, providing positive vibes and escapism at a time when people were, and still are, unable to go out to nightclubs and dance the night away. It arrived at the perfect moment. Not only was the album positively reviewed upon its release but it was also shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize and will, undoubtably, feature highly in many critics and publications end of year lists. 

I have listened to Future Nostalgia a few times now and, while I do quite like it, I didn't really get why it had been given such a rapturous reception.

That was until I listened to Canadian art pop star Allie X's 2020 album, Cape God. 

Like Future Nostalgia, Cape God provides a confident serving of stylish and hedonistic pop music. But its overall mood is decidedly darker, foreboding and off kilter. Which might account for it receiving less attention than the Dua Lipa album.

Cape God was released on February 21st 2020, pre a lot of the world's Covid lockdowns and before many countries had fully realised the extent to which they were going to be impacted by the virus and what kind of a year it was going to be.

An album with moody, dark imagery that also features X's trademark subversive lyrics (this is the woman who rhymed 'Casanova' with 'Fuck me over' on 'Casanova' after all) it is clever, complex, sophisticated pop with many a dance floor banger ('Super Duper Party People', 'Devil I Know', 'Rings A Bell', 'Life Of The Party') but which also wraps discordant, complex themes in ambitious synth pop ('Fresh Laundry') and addresses a series of atypical relationships and related difficulties. 'Love Me Wrong' for example, a collaboration with Trove Sivan, is a swirlingly off kilter slice of pop baroque whereas the slinky 'Susie Save Your Love' sings of wistful bisexual longing in a duet with Mitski. Musically the song  nods to mid 1980s Prince and the Revolution as well as the Lady Gaga and Florence Welch duet, 'Hey Girl'. 'Madame X' meanwhile, presumably in no way related to last years Madonna album of the same name, is a gothic ballad featuring a modern day La Belle Dame Sans Merci at its heart. 

Perhaps the most haunting track on this most atmospheric of albums is 'Life Of The Party' a song which, at face value, is a turbo charged banger set to rival anything on Chromatica or Future Nostalgia. Listen to the lyrics though and the story takes a distinctly darker turn:

I was the life was the life of the party

They stripped me down like a Barbie

They say I kissed the king

But I don't remember anything

The troubling nature of this is underscored at the apex of the song with X's blurred and groggy muttering of the following:

Oh I'll never forget

But I don't wanna forget

Hope I never forget

Oh I wanna forget

Oh I'll never forget

But I don't wanna forget

I hope I'll never forget

Oh I wanna forget

It hints at sexual assault while delivering unyielding pounding electro beats, something Noga Erez also did with 2017's 'Pretty', which was about a sexual assault in an Israeli nightclub. The contrast between content and style in both cases making for pretty disturbing listening. 

In its attention to cohesion and detail Cape God comes across as a loving and ambitious homage to electronica, art pop and the LGBT+ community. It feels both dark and joyous, troubling and euphoric, and it builds on Allie X's earlier work in a very satisfactory way.

She has surpassed herself with this album and that should really be acknowledged. 

Allie X – Girl of the Year (Super Sunset Digital Concert #SSDC)

A highly atmospheric performance by Allie X here. You can watch an equally impressive intimate gig in full as part of the Mercedes Benz live Garage gig series here.

Fantasy Festival number 5: The lineup

Lydmor: Danish composer and musician Jenny Rossander is well known in her home country, but didn't really start to be known in the UK until she released her album I told you I'd tell them our story back in 2018. She makes expansive, emotional electro pop, and you can read more about her here and here.

Pink Milk: Atmospheric Swedish noise merchants Pink Milk will be no strangers to regular readers of this blog. Their debut 2017 album Purple was an icy cacophony swirling through the music scene that year, and while they have been quiet of late, they have more than earned their place in a Fantasy Festival lineup. You can find them over on Bandcamp.

Pale Honey: Swedish grunge duo Nelly Daltrey and Tuva Lodmark were included in 2017's Fantasy Festival series, around the time they released their second album, Devotion. They've been teasing us with new material over the past year so it's to be expected that a third album may well be imminent. You can find out more here.

Grace Mitchell: Grace is another performer who I included in my 2017 Fantasy Festival lineup who has been a bit quiet since. Signed to Taylor Swift and Lorde's record label, she released a series of EP's and stand alone tracks (including the 2017 protest song 'The Kids (Ain't Alright)') that saw her poised to be the next great up and coming left of centre pop star. Here's hoping she's been quiet because she's working on something.

Allie X: Canadian singer/songwriter and visual artist, Allie X, has been bubbling under for a while now. 2020's Cape God album of dystopian synth pop has been well received, and, were things not as they are it would be expected that she would be touring the shit out of it, and probably performing at a number of festivals this summer. You can read a review of the album here.

Niki & The Dove: Swedish duo Niki & The Dove, following ten years of dramatic indietronica have, again, been a bit quiet recently. An alternative version of 'Sister Brother Mother Father' from 2016's album Everybody's Heart Is Broken Now, was released last year, signalling perhaps that they might be working on something but, for now, fans wait.

Sigrid: Norwegian singer/songwriter Sigrid was crowned BBC Music's Sound of 2018 and, since then, she's gone on to release a critically acclaimed pop album (including the legendary 'Don't Kill My Vibe'), do at least one stadium tour, and provide a refreshingly sunny take on Gen Z life. You can find out more here.

Songs of the year, number 25: Allie X – Fresh Laundry

Canadian singer/songwriter Allie X is a bit of an electro pop superstar in her home country, but I must confess to not having been aware of her before the release of this slice of hypnotic wonky pop. Her biog on Spotify says she has been compared to Chvrches, Ellie Goulding and The Knife pre their Silent Shout album and, while I wouldn't normally quote from someones online biog, this does feel like a spot on description of what she's about.

'Fresh Laundry' is a slightly odd song, it's strange, beautiful and intriguing and, as such, I look forward to hearing more from Allie X in 2020.