Album Review: Lorde – Solar Power (Universal)

Lorde delivers Solar Power, four years after her Melodrama. We take a first listen and are impressed.

I wasn’t planning to review the new Lorde album, after all who wants to hear the musings of a 60-something boomer on a 24-year old pop star. But then I listened to it and realized there was plenty in this record for myself (and those like me) to relate to.

It’s easy to dismiss Lorde as a teeny bopper… Let’s face it, here in New Zealand we were inundated with her since she was about 16. But this third album proves (if the other two didn’t) that she is a major talent, a songwriter to take seriously. (I hope that doesn’t sound patronising)

To put it in Boomer perspective… Lorde is now 24 years old…the same age John Lennon and Paul McCartney were when they were writing such mature, thoughtful songs as In My Life and Yesterday.

And at 24, Carole King had already written a slew of classics such as Up On The Roof, Crying In The Rain and You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman.

Speaking of Ms. King, Carole is namechecked in California, the album’s third track. Like most of the 11 songs here, it’s very personal… Lorde remembers “when Carole called my name” a reference to her Grammy win… but she has mixed feelings… ”I don’t miss the poison arrows aimed directly at my head.”

The album opens with The Path and the line… ”Born in the year of Oxycotin” 1996 is when Lorde descended to this place and now she has concerns about what is happening to Mother Earth. “I just hope the sun will show us the path”.

While the majority of the record was made by Lorde and co-producer/co-writer Jack Antonoff, there are a few guest shots, most notably, Phoebe Bridgers, Clairo, Lawrence Arabia and Marlon Williams, all of whom add backing vocals on selected tracks such as Fallen Fruit and Leader Of A New Regime.

Swedish artist Robyn shows up on Secrets From A Girl (Who’s Seen It All), where Lorde sings to her younger self and Robyn adds a spoken-word coda, sounding very much like an airport announcement. ”Your emotional baggage can be picked up at carousel number two.”

There is a love song… The Man With The Axe is a very straightforward ode to her beau. ”I’m writing a love song for you, baby” while letting us in on little details of their relationship, ”I should’ve known when your favourite record was the same as my father’s, you’d take me down.”

Elsewhere there is a song about her late dog… Big Star (also a reference to that band), Uma Thurman’s mother (Dominoes) and mood rings.

For the youngsters out there, a mood ring was a very 60s/70s thing… it supposedly changed colour depending on your mood. So Lorde’s song of the same name finds her getting in touch with her inner hippie.

Finally, Oceanic Feeling closes the record beautifully… sort of an ode to her brother and New Zealand with a cameo from Marlon Williams..

So, in Lorde’s own words, “the cherry black lipstick’s gathering dust in the drawer, I don’t need her anymore” meet the new Lorde, same as the old Lorde?

Marty Duda

Click here to order Lorde’s Solar Power