Album Review: Angel
ALBUM – Angel
ARTIST – Lizzy McAlpine
LABEL – RCA Records
GRADE – B
Lizzy McAlpine’s first studio album, Give Me a Minute, was released at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It didn’t make a huge splash, but it definitely found its audience. The album was recommended to many across platforms like YouTube, which also boosted McAlpine’s song covers.
Her career bloomed during this time, and she found recognition for her talents. But her career really took off with the release of her second studio album, Five Seconds Flat.
The eighth song on the album, “Ceilings,” went viral on TikTok, starting a trend that only grew her following. Give Me a Minute’s unpolished pop evolved into Five Seconds Flat’s flourishing, structured indie pop, which became the sound McAlpine would come to be known for.
However, with Angel, her fourth studio album, McAlpine may be finally outgrowing the title of indie darling.
Like all of McAlpine’s music, she sings of love, loss, heartbreak, intimacy and everything in between, but the spirit of the music in Angel is very different from anything she’s done before—indie pop has turned to folksy musings.
I would describe Angel as an untethered album, where McAlpine is a wandering spirit in her songs. She sings of love and loss, but nothing is concrete, and so much seems out of reach for the main character of her songs.
The songs rise and fall, but often end abruptly. McAlpine feels like a traveller in Angel, passing through her life and her songs.
No song best describes this than “Soldier of the Road,” the ultimate traveller’s anthem. The song features Fleet Foxes, an American indie folk band, and evokes a lost nomad. It is a standout song on the album.
Angel has many of the hallmarks of McAlpine’s best work. It is still the indie pop that makes you want to dance and cry at the same time, but McAlpine leans more folksy in her melodies and song composition.
The music is transparent and a little less produced. In many songs, you hear the instrumentals on the surface, and they often take the focus away from the lyrics. This album wears its heart on its sleeve, open-hearted and pulsating.
We saw glimpses of a more folksy side of McAlpine in her third studio album, Older. That album struck a wonderful balance between instrumentation and lyrics, showcasing a new and developed side of Lizzy McAlpine.
Angel continues that legacy. It’s a new sound from McAlpine, and it’s experimental, but I don’t think it’s strong on its feet just yet.
I am excited to see how McAlpine develops this new sound. Her voice is as profound as ever, and her lyrics are just as piercing. McAlpine is evolving, but if you want to cry, laugh, reminisce and shout, she is still a great musician for that.
From Angel you’ll get everything you love from McAlpine, and I think a lot more.
As for some standout songs, “Soldier of the Road,” as previously mentioned, as well as “The Moon,” “Mason’s Song” and, of course, the titular “Angel”.
—Nadoo Abaagu
