Lana Del Rey, Depeche Mode, The Answer: New album reviews

Lana Del Rey is back as bold as ever, with unflinching lyrics that cut to the quick of the human condition PLUS Depeche Mode and The Answer.

Lana Del Rey

This week’s album reviews from The Courier-Mail (ratings out of five stars):

POP

Lana Del Rey, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd

(Universal) ***1/2

Lana Del Rey’s ninth album reaffirms her status as heir apparent to Alanis Morissette’s feminist angst, equal parts confident and doubtful, fierce and vulnerable. Piano, falsetto and sumptuous, stirring symphonic arrangements are recurring features, and Del Rey is often in an altered state. Haunting highlights include Candy Necklace and the two-speed A&W (“It’s not about having someone to love me anymore/This is the experience of being an American wh—-.”) Atmospheric opener The Grants speaks to how it’s the memory that dies. There are references to John Denver’s Rocky Mountain High and The Eagles’ Hotel California, and curious interludes by evangelists, while Father John Misty joins her for Seventies-style duet Let the Light In.

ELECTRONIC

Depeche Mode, Memento Mori

(Columbia/Sony) ***1/2

The death last year of keyboardist Andy Fletcher casts a shadow over Depeche Mode’s 15th studio long-player, with fellow founding members Dave Gahan and Martin Gore forging ahead in the face of adversity. The result is a set as introspective as anything they’ve produced, but with shards of light shining through. They bear resemblances to ’80s new-wave compatriots such as New Order (Before We Drown) and Yazoo (Wagging Tongue) at times. Caroline’s Monkey has a similar ’80s vibe, they’re protective of their personal spacetime on My Cosmos is Mine, and they romanticise death with the synth-cabaret Soul With Me. Then there’s the industrial My Favourite Stranger. “Keep fooling myself that everyone cares,” Gahan sings on People Are Good, which has shades of The Stranglers’ Skin Deep.

ROCK

The Answer, Sundowners

(Golden Robot) ***

They might be from Northern Ireland but these rockers trace their influence right through the UK to the US of A. After channelling the likes of Led Zeppelin, Gary Glitter and even The Cruel Sea on the opening numbers – frontman Cormac Neeson could pass for Robert Plant at times – they soon ease into a style more akin to that of The Black Crowes. The fuzzy opening title track is followed by the stomping Blood Brother, while organ and harmonica add texture to California Rust. Other highlights include the groove of Oh Cherry and the harmonica-infused change of pace No Salvation. It’s a blues-rock explosion that’ll leave you fanging for more.