Aldous Harding – Warm Chris (Flying Nun)

Aldous Harding serves up another round of sonic specialties…10 new songs that she describes as “wilder but cleaner”.

“Wilder but cleaner”, what does that mean? Well, anyone who has followed Aldous’ career (this is album #4) will know that nothing is straightforward, nothing is easily explained in her world.

Warm Chris, like Harding’s last two albums, was produced by John Parish (PJ Harvey, Eels) in her adopted country of Wales…at the “legendary “ Rockfield Studios. On hand to help out are drummer Seb Rochford, multi-instrumentalist Gavin Fitzjohn and Welsh singer H. (Huw) Hawkline.

Aldous Harding is the Anna Delvey of Rock & Roll

But as always, the focus is on Aldous, her unconventional songs and her ever-changing voice. After listening to tracks like Tick Tok, Fever and Leathery Whip and hearing Aldous transform the English language into something all her own, I got to thinking about the Netflix series Inventing Anna and, considering the title character’s “unique” accent, got to thinking that Aldous Harding may be the Anna Delvey of rock & roll.

Anyone who has even vaguely paid attention to Aldous knows to expect the unexpected. She growls, chirps, scowls and glares when she performs live and one can’t help thinking about those traits when listening to her records.

To be fair, Warm Chris finds Aldous sounding the most like a “traditional” vocalist since her debut album. This is not to suggest that she’s lost her edge, but perhaps shows a new confidence in her song writing abilities.

This is all speculation, of course…and overthinking music is never a good thing.

The sound of Warm Chris is sparse and warm…Ennui opens the set with a jaunty keyboard figure and then a growling woodwind. Harding herself sounds almost angelic.

On Tick Tok, she slips into a “babydoll” voice singing, now you see me, what you gonna do?”…and is that a banjo picking away in the background?

Parish and Harding’s production decisions are full of subtle delights…a sax here, a harpsichord there, and if you listen close, you’ll hear Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson sing harmonies on closer Leathery Whip.

Upon first listen I don’t hear anything as immediately fetching as Horizon or The Barrel. But its early days and Aldous, whoever she chooses to be, is always interesting.

Marty Duda

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