With a star-studded lineup of collaborations, including Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Chino Moreno of Deftones, Beabadoobee’s new album “Pylon” takes on a heavier sound for the singer than previously heard.
Beabadoobee is known for her bedroom-pop hits like “the perfect pair” and “death bed (coffee for your head)” and having a largely popish, folksy tone, before her albums recently grew into a more alternative sound.
“Pylon” takes this sound to new levels for the singer, with songs like “Sun has Set,” displaying a feistier mood and fuzzy guitars, with help from Title Fight’s Shane Moran.
Like her many of her previous albums, the lyrics of “Pylon” have romantic themes and reflective attitudes, and it mostly consists of love songs. However, the album is more instrumentally sophisticated than the others, so it doesn’t feel repetitive.
Each song holds creative structural changes and consists of enticing melodies, like “Write Me a Letter,” which had help from Matty Healy and George Daniel of The 1975. This song is very well produced and features an interesting vocal layering technique.
We have been watching Beabadoobee’s career unfold over the last few years, and now fans get to see her take things to the next level creatively. The album is certainly shoegaze influenced, showcasing fuzzy ambience and piercing guitar feedback on songs like “Radio,” which feel Duster or Slowdive inspired. The album simultaneously juxtaposes the harsh atmosphere and Beabadoobee’s dainty, twee-ish singing voice that gives it great contrast sonically and makes it engaging to listen to.
Songs like “Nothing to Prove” with Hayley Williams and “Powerlines” with Brendan Yates of Turnstile deliver a simpler, indie sound that gives the album movement and variety.
The album also features Evan Stephens Hall from Pinegrove, who Beabadoobee has publicly been a huge fan of.
“I like to take inspiration from Evan’s songwriting,” she said in an interview with Pitchfork.
We can see this inspiration reveal itself heavily in the album not only on “Spark,” which Hall helped write, but with the atmosphere of the entire album, and the imagery it creates.
The imagery of “Pylon” can be interpreted as something electrical, (hence the title of the album and some songs) for its heavy distorted guitars and ambient sounds, but also for its lyrical themes.
“It was kind of this object [Pylon] that I gravitated towards on the road, which is kind of what this album is about, it’s about being away,” Beabadoobee said in a recent interview with Radio X.
“That helped me feel connected to everything I missed,” she added.
The final song on the album “Satellite,” featuring background vocals from Moreno, seems melodically predictable, however redeems itself with Beabadoobee’s aggressive singing in the chorus and sludgy guitar riffs throughout. The song acts as a good close to the album with lyrics that hold undertones of acceptance and resolution.