The Good: Lily Allen's new album,
It's Not Me, It's You, seems like the same loud, witty, and infinitely catchy Lily (Ah, how I wish I was on a first name basis). This, people, is in no way, a bad thing. On her second LP, Allen continues to produce the same vocal driven, upbeat pop songs that got her famous in the first place, while tweaking things just enough to make it sound new.
The album's sound is predominately keyboard lead, but she seems to have toned down some of the ska/reggae influences, excluding the European sounding (accordion!?) "Never Gonna Happen." On this album, Allen occasionally ventures in to the wide world of electronics, using samples to build ambience on songs like "I Could Stay" "Back to the Start" and "Chinese" (the intro to “Back to the Start” sounds like something The Knife could have written). “The Fear” is an obvious single, though darker than the ones from her first album. “22” is also single material and features a Mark Mothersbaugh sounding harpsichord. Overall, she generally stays with the same foundation of pop/rock chord progressions, melodies and commanding hooks that made Alright, Still such a great vehicle for her infecting voice and pointed lyrics.
Again on this album, like her first, she draws her lyrics from a wide range of subject matter. From vulnerable introspection ("22,"), to relationships ("Chinese"), politics ("Everyone's At it," "Fuck You,") and even theological ruminations ("Him"), its clear Lily Allen has a lot to say. On several tracks, she seems particularly frustrated with the degenerate aspects of society and social pressures, singing on “Everyones At It,” “I’m not trying to say that I’m smelling of roses/ but when will we tire of putting shit up our noses?” continuing, “it’s meant to be fun/ and this just doesn’t feel right.” This marks a stark emotional contrast with “Alfie” from her first album, which is a bouncy, almost comical plea for her brother to stop smoking weed. She goes on to deplore the increasing reliance on anti-depressants, prozac, illegal and medical marijuana and general level of despair and dependency. She continues her bitingly sarcastic and critical narrative through the next track, “The Fear.” In the first verse, she sings “I am a weapon of massive consumption/ And it’s not my fault, its how I’m programmed to function” invoking the word play that would seem witty if it wasn’t so scathingly delivered. Ironically, the verses, in which Allen assumes a dispassionate and mechanistic persona, are initially founded on a sparse, organic picked guitar line. This ultimately gives way to the blatantly contrasting and expansive chorus, which finds Allen sincerely, almost desperately declaring “I don’t know what’s right and what's real.” The synthetic, electronic backing noises in the chorus provide a stark contrast to her sincerity, invoking a sense of conflict that pervades the rest song. Whether you agree with her or not, you can't deny the force of her sarcastic wit and passionately conveyed opinions.
The Bad: While most of the time, the effectiveness of her delivery and the bitter sincerity of her narration redeem the redundancy of the songs’ insistent pop structures, the repetition does occasionally detract from the flow of the album, making it sound a bit like a collection of well crafted, but independent tracks. The album is weakest on slower songs like "I Could Say" and "Chinese" which never really go anywhere, drowning in a pool of over produced synth ambience. "Who'd have known" which plays like a sentimental anthem for the lonely, seeming somewhat tame and thereby rather unconvincing. “Never Gonna Happen,” despite fantastic instrumentation in the verses (I want to do that Russian/Jewish leg kicking dance!), relies too heavily on its heavy beat to carry what is otherwise a chaotic and lackluster chorus, and later becomes half-filled with da da da’s. With Allen’s lyrical prowess, what would be for other bands a joyous and celebratory moment, turns into a musical cop out.
The Verdict: To some, the lack of the summery, ska backing music completely kills the album, finding Allen's admonishing tone hard to deal with. To those, I would ask why it is that we can be excited for Grizzly Bear to completely change seasonal moods, and not her.
Ultimately, the fact remains that Lily Allen is the only pop artist who could sweetly sing "fuck you" in multipart harmony after a key change, using helium-like vocal effects and carnival-esque noises in the background and still somehow make it sound sincere.
Elsewhere: Over at (my favorite)
Stereogum, there is a great live
video of a song from the new album that they label "Never Gonna Happen" but which I am pretty sure is "The Fear." Regardless, I found the performance convincing and shockingly chilling.
Although it's not set to release until February 10th (via Capitol Records), You can listen to
It's Not Me, It's You in its entirety on Allen's
myspace page.
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