We weren’t really sure what to expect from the Filipino-British singer-songwriter Beabadoobee‘s debut studio album artificial flowers, but it’s definitely not this. She moved away from the feeling of the breathy sound of the 2017 single The coffeeand now walking through the land of dirty guitars and nostalgic charismatic vocals.
The inaugural person Care introduces a ’90s alt-rock theme reminiscent of artists like Liz Phair and Sneaker Pimps – the kind of artist who proves that sweet, girly vocals are just as relevant to the rock genre as more bass.
Follow, along with Valuable and penultimate Togetherare some of the more uplifting numbers on the album, while songs like dreamy are short and sweet Back to Mars and absorbed Emotional song with their sparkling synths explore more melancholy terrains.
Dye It Red feels like it should be on the soundtrack of some angry teen movie, while Charlie Brown introduced some heavier guitars with painful lyrics running alongside powerful choruses.
The track that probably expresses the emotions of the entire album is the seventh track with a dark and dull style: Sorry. Here we open up to background studio noises (an old-school lo-fi brand of which this isn’t the only example on the album) and our ears filled with the hum of guitars and darker tone.
Further is a sleep monitoring process that provides some relief after Sorrywhile rhythm Horen Sarrison Beabadoobee’s vocals are clearer than anywhere else on the album. The longest of the 12 songs has a cinematic feel to this light love song with some soaring string arrangements proving that the singer’s talent lies beyond bedroom pop.
While, How is your day? feel the least productive; The acoustic strings hissing against the angelic vocals provide an interesting contrast and it’s refreshing to see an artist embrace a more dynamic sound.
Closer Yoshimi, Forest, Magdalene was a fun way to end a great album and honestly, Yoshimi, Forest and Magdalene are great names for future children of Beabadoobee. The messy close-up chorus gives us serious vibes about riots and shows us that this is a singer who doesn’t take himself too seriously.
artificial flowers definitely a cohesive album, but often strays from its comfort zone. And while it can seem a bit monotonous at times, there’s enough difference on the album to make it a surprising and memorable debut. As we said before, it’s far from what we’ve heard before Beabadoobeeand it’s definitely going to be on our top 10 albums of the year list.
