As is the way nowadays, Lana Del Rey’s latest release has been preceded by a swathe of album tracks released by varying internet means, and these previews promise the most complete version of her cinema noir modern but retro take on female voiced pop. So, does ‘Honeymoon’ deliver?
Lana Del Rey, a modern pop star operating with a cinematic throwback sound, sultry in voice and looks and releasing with a prolificness not seen in the current day music scene, returns with her 4th full length album barely 15 months since the previous Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys) produced ‘Ultraviolence‘ graced us.
As the title track sweeps in with delicate shimmering orchestration and her trademark velvet smooth vocal, you have to think, yes, this album is going to be all that it promises. It’s far more singer songwriter territory than her earlier releases. This is not necessarily going to appeal to the fans of ‘Video Games’ – her trailer park infused breakthrough hit of 2011, but instead calls to an older generation and a youth that harks back in time for its musical high spots.
‘Honeymoon’ was released by Interscope in association with Polydor.
There’s a late 60’s Scott Walker-ish feel, it’s a classic sound, which permeates through the whole album. The artwork is a Hipstamatic/Instagram showcase, and lyrically this is reflected too, colours are sung of to invoke moods, something Del Rey has often done, violets, blues, pinks, black, clouds and storms. Somewhat more surprisingly Bowie gets quoted in a major (Tom) way on ‘Terrence Loves You’, a relationship song that could also tell the tale of Bowie’s relationship with his brother Terry.
The cinematic feel becomes enhanced as ‘High By The Beach‘ glides in with its trip hop swagger and a genuinely catchy pop chorus. In fact the feel of trip hop legends Portishead is invoked many times throughout the album, the music feels at all times complete and thorough, no half thought out ideas that previous releases have harboured, instead a simpler but more thorough remit is played out and the album as a whole benefits from this massively.
The song titles even bear this badge, ‘Music to Watch Boys To‘, ‘God Knows I Tried‘, ‘Salvatore‘ and ‘Art Deco‘ among others all evoke sun bleached images of the past, and the latter with its catchy chorus of ‘You’re so Art Deco, out on the floor, Shining like gunmetal, cold and unsure’ illustrates the completeness of the vision accompanying the spacey, lush waiting for a movie feel of the music totally.
There’s a wonderful, absolutely surplus to requirements, and quite mental spoken interlude before the album launches into its ‘side 2’ home straight with ‘Religion‘ which name checks in fabulous style Bob Dylan’s classic ‘Lay Lady Lay’ and collapses to its finish in a full on Portishead style shuddering finale.
If there’s a criticism it’s that the whole thing is a bit single paced, but in truth this is also a strength; songs melt into other songs, the mood only subtlety changes, but a strong identity is established through this. ‘24‘ late on picks the pace up a little in a slow build kind of way. And for the second album in a row Del Rey closes with a song given a famous reading previously by Nina Simone, this time with a great take on ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood‘. And with that it’s all over. So with an album that evokes the 60’s, Scott Walker, David Bowie, Portishead and Nina Simone, Lana Del Rey has made her most complete artistic statement yet, and the one that seems to most perfectly represent her true self maybe? So as she becomes an increasingly acquired taste she has at last long released the true classic that’s been promised from the start.
Author – Ian, Romford store
