Lizzy McAlpine, talented singer-songwriter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has wreaked havoc — the good kind — once more with the release of her third album. Dating all the way back to 2021, while preparing “five seconds flat,” she began writing “Older.” According to an interview with Variety, McAlpine commented: “I was trying to figure out what my sound was, and that was what came out of that period of experimentation.” While writing the album, she “could immediately feel that it was different sounding. It just felt different. It felt a little bit more mature and grounded.” Finally released on April 5, 2024, “Older” came to all music platforms.
Listening to the album right at midnight when it came out, I can definitely say that out of all three of her albums, this is the most intricately crafted tracklist McAlpine has produced. The instrumental, key and lyrical choices that went into each song on “Older” made for an emotional whirlpool for listeners.
Now, here are some highlights from the tracklist.
The first song, “The Elevator,” is like a 1:40 minute build up to the saddest moment of your life. So solemnly sung, her words, “Can we stay like this forever? / Can we be here in this room ‘til we die?” show what it’s like to cling onto something so tightly even after knowing it’s done for. I like to think of the song in direct relation to the title itself, “The Elevator:” A never-ending wait to arrive at the next stage of life. The song ends with about 35 seconds of strong instrumentals that exactly depict the feeling of confusion and nervousness in forcing yourself to move past something you never thought you’d have to overcome, like a break-up or death.
The second song, “Come Down Soon,” was one of the songs she performed on stage whilst on tour for “five seconds flat.” The style this song is sung in is unique in that it’s talkative or conversational, which sometimes doesn’t work out to the artist’s benefit, but this is not the case for McAlpine.
“Here’s a cigarette / He offers in his outstretched hand / I remind, him ‘I don’t smoke these’ / He says, ‘I knew that’”
The periodic switch between a conversational tone and a traditional singing voice helps her tell her story of a romantic experience with a clear expiration date, and makes it feel like we’re her friends (although listeners could only hope).
“All Falls Down” is another song she performed before releasing the album and is the most upbeat song on the tracklist. Opening with a solid beat, a softly played flute and repeating descending chromatic scales, “All Falls Down,” despite its cheerful attitude, is a brutally honest depiction of life’s tragedies and mistrials.
“23 / And a sold-out show / I am happy, but / I’ll probably cry after you go home”
“22 / Was a panic attack / I can’t stop the time from moving / And I can never get it back”
Everyone goes through ups and downs, McAlpine included. Someone once told me that healing and living is not a linear path, which is completely true and fully represented with “All Falls Down,” as she sings that her emotions and her tribulations are based on one sole person who she crossed paths with and must have broken her heart. The track captures the feeling of being let down by someone you depend on.
“You Forced Me To” is another highlight in “Older,” as the key its sung in, C# (D flat) major, makes for an eerie-sounding song that is very reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.” The suppression and echo of the piano with the incredibly repetitive guitar and piano arpeggio forces her audience into a mental spiral — a true villain’s theme song.
“I want you to hate me / I deserve it for my crimes / I know that I loved you / But you loved me harder / Every time / I am not the same as when you met me / I have changed because you forced me to”
The instrumental break in the song is nostalgic of a carousel and its repetitive nature, but carousels, like carnivals, can often be abandoned for better, modernized activities. McAlpine represents this image of a carousel’s never-ending cycle of spinning, spiraling like a tragic mind, with her never-ending guitar and piano melody that remains constant throughout the entire song. The paired instruments along with her voice, all played in C# major, make for the perfect creepy, circus song.
Ending the song with “Vortex,” McAlpine seals the album with a beautiful and innocent melody. With just her and her piano, she rules the world with her voice and her passion. Listening to this song, you can hear her insanely controlled breaths, as it sounds like she continues to go on a tangent, running out of breath, but her capability to maintain such a strong voice is incredibly impressive.
“And I’m tired of this and the way that it feels / I’m not there anymore, this has never been real / We’re just awful together and awful apart / I don’t know what to do anymore”
Sounding conversational with her audience, McAlpine is able to portray this as her spiraling deeper into a void — vortex — of her emotions and confusion in love and broken romance. This must have been just at the beginning of the end, just before she or the person she is singing about breaks it off with the other. What’s truly captivating about “Vortex” is that when the lyrics stop, the music does not. She ends the album just as it started: With instrumentals. The song finishes with about two more minutes of instrumentals and her humming, which is very dreamy in that it reminds me of that one cloud scene in “How to Train Your Dragon,” when Hiccup and Astrid ride on their dragons through the clouds during sunset. A perfect ending to the album, “Vortex” is ambiguous in its meaning and melody.
As noted in my review of “Older,” her single released before her the album, I noted that her album was believed to be “brutally honest and wistful.” Finally listening to the full album has only proved this to be true. “Older” is the most sophisticatedly crafted work she has created to date. Truly, an exceptional artist, McAlpine deserves much more recognition.
So, to answer this article’s title’s question, growing old with someone is the dream, but the reality, according to McAlpine, is love, loss, pain and palpitation.
Rating: 5/5