Welcome to Ear 2 Da Sky! Each week, I will be going over topics within music culture and reviewing albums and EPs across genres, eras and artists that are submitted by readers and listeners of my radio show every Monday at 11 p.m. on WHUS 91.7 FM! For this week’s submission, I decided to go ahead and give Clairo’s “Charm” a listen.
“Charm” was Clairo’s most recent release, coming out in the summer of 2024. This was her third studio album, following her 2021 release: “Sling.” The project clocks in at just over 38 minutes, spanning across a humble 11 songs. One of the biggest audible growths in this project compared to others is the fact that it was all recorded live on an analog tape recorder, creating this 1970s soft rock and jazzy feel that is integral to the sound of this album.
“Nomad” is the first track on the album, opening with a bluesy-sounding slide guitar and an upright bass, backed by extra electrical feedback picked up on the live recording. You might assume that the quiet feedback and slight scratchiness in the instrumental recording would diminish the sound quality of the album, but it does the exact opposite. The usage of analog rather than the industry standard of digital recording really adds to the intimacy of the album.
I know I’ve mentioned it a couple of times already but, personally, I really love the sound that’s created through the recording style, although it isn’t new technology at all. It’s very refreshing, sonically. One thing that is supplemented by the recording style in my opinion is definitely the drums. From top to bottom, there is just absolutely hypnotizing and “charming” (sorry) percussion all throughout this album. I think the best example of this is in song six: “Terrapin.”
An incredibly laid-back and rightfully freeing track, the drums and piano gracefully intertwine on “Terrapin” as she sings about the idea of living as a free spirit, able to go wherever she wants and doing what she wants. Going back through interviews and listening to the album over and over, you can see her confidence growing from who she was years ago recording music in her bedroom, to who she is now. You can hear it in her lyrics specifically as she says in the chorus, “It’s a simple thing we’re all afraid and shy away / Now I find / I guess I don’t shy / I guess I don’t shy.” As she breaks away from the shackles of anxiety and shyness, she shows off a new, glaring confidence.
In the following track, “Juna,” a fan-favorite off the project, we get another example of this wonderful percussion. She explores the theme of infatuation, as the song truly encapsulates the excitedness and the beautiful thoughtlessness of being deeply in love with someone, as she simply states, “I don’t even try / I don’t have to think / With you, there’s no pretending.”
Clairo is one of those interesting cases in music as she’s been in the spotlight since she was a teenager, gaining most of her notoriety from her single, “Pretty Girl,” released in the summer of 2017. The biggest thing that comes with being in the spotlight for so long and starting off so young is the looming idea of comparison, whether it’s a comparison of other artists or your own works. With this most recent album, I think she fights off the fear that is comparison as this newfound confidence shines through, absolutely knocking it out of the park with “Charm.”
Rating: 5/5
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