AMELIA

If 2022 was the year of prog and 2023 was the year of metal, then 2024 certainly is the year of pop! The amount of excellent pop numbers that have appeared this year alone makes me so proud to be a fan of this wide and diverse genre. And it seems as though the high and master classes of the genre keep on coming and coming, with something quite unconventional within the genre popping up...a documentary of sorts, monologue via the glorious voice of Laurie Anderson. Like Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, I have been more of a recent fan of Laurie Anderson's music, but like Nick Cave I have been very into what she delivers. I haven't heard all that she has made in her quite lengthy career, but what I have heard from her is nothing short of brilliant. She is like the American Bjork in a way, with her pop music being very experimental and forward thinking. And much like Bjork, I believe her masterpiece (at least so far from what I have heard) is her chamber pop record, Amelia.

Amelia is quite a strange record when compared to much of the other works that Laurie has made before, taking away most of the staples that Laurie has shown within her past records and in exchange for a style more situated within a radio drama, or an audiobook. You are not gonna get the same styles of art pop that you'd find on Homeland, or perhaps even Life On A String. Instead you'll find droning, classical music with Laurie recounting the life of Amelia Earhart, a name that I think everyone and their mothers have heard of in detail in schools or history reports. This difference from her other albums does make it automatically a bit of a black sheep, but man is it an amazing black sheep, possibly the best there is!

The best thing about this album is of course the classical elements. Modern classical music is quite different from the stuff that the old figures like Vivaldi have made, as the genre often loves to use more textural elements, rather than creating whimsy and structure. Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders' album of Promises is a great example of such. She uses the textures and dynamics of modern classical music to her fullest extent, creating a dynamic sound from start to finish that changes with the key points of Amelia Earhart's long plane ride. At the start, I felt as though I was getting into the adventure of a lifetime with how magical and whimsy the start was, but by the end with the second to last track of Radio, I felt as though I myself was crashing down, much like Amelia Earhart. The music made me feel like Amelia, in fact it STILL makes me feel like her even after repeated listens, and it is all due to the strength that the dynamics held within the music.

Not only that, but Laurie's lack of singing on here, aside from a few moments, perfectly situated within the album's core. This album is a documentary, and such Laurie's monologues made for much more of a thrilling experience oddly enough. It made me perfectly see the world in Amelia's eyes, and what it all was like back in her times. The speaking and the music made me engrossed in this concept album in a way that I have not experienced since my first time listening to The Mars Volta's Frances The Mute. It is just an experience and a half really!

If I could give this album some flack it'd probably be the fact the tracks on here are very short, but I will actually revoke this critique since the whole itself is basically one big, 34 minute suite, and also because a lot of classical music records usually split up the parts in a suite into multiple tracks, so really this is a non-issue. Besides, I think even despite their lengths they do an amazing, but quick job at setting the scenes and moods for this album to follow.

I do think, though, the best part of this whole album has to be The Word For Woman Here. It does something similar to most of the tracks beforehand, but what sets it apart is the lyrics and descriptions Laurie gives of just a simple remark about the word for women in Bangkok, that being Mary (though it's actually ผู้หญิง [P̄hū̂ h̄ỵing] since Bangkok is in Thailand), and just her wondering about a whole town and country of Marys. I don't quite know why it makes my heart soar, but just the wonder that Amelia Earhart must've wondered in her long escapade was both uplifting, as well as it was like a needle in my heart. My ears were already glued onto this album, but that glue certainly hardened after that track.

I doubt this'll be considered her greatest work by many years after, especially since it is extremely different from all the rest of her catalog, but Laurie Anderson has made a masterpiece of an album to me, and a definitive highlight of this year's wide range of sounds and music. I implore you to give this one a listen if you haven't already. It is a magical record for sure, and one of the best in the long line-up of pop music from this year.

Best tracks: The Word for Woman Here, Radio

Worst tracks: N/A