Album review: ABBA’s surprise ninth album Voyage a worthy addition to their canon
The Swedish quartet has resisted the lure of billion-dollar paydays in the past, but there’s a big difference between pop stars from the ‘70s and in their 70s.
Album reviews for week of November 13, 2021:
POP
Voyage
ABBA
Universal
The news that ABBA had been quietly tinkering away on a new album 40 years after its swan song was a genuine surprise. Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad have resisted the lure of billion-dollar paydays in the past, but there’s a big difference between pop stars from the ‘70s and in their 70s. The use of synthesisers and gated drums make much of Voyage sound like it was a recovered session from the mid-’80s, especially the power ballad I Still Have Faith In You, which is a weird choice for an opening track, and the chugging When You Danced With Me. It’s when they lean heavily into the ‘70s that the album finds its groove: Don’t Shut Me Down captures some of the old magic with those glorious harmonies and Dancing Queen piano flourishes; Bumblebee’s opening whistles are pure Fernando, and Waterloo-style boogie Just A Notion sounds like it could have come out during their mid-’70s imperial period (and kind of did, since the vocals were recorded in 1978).
With two internal divorces under their silvery belts, the quartet always traded profitably in songs about horrendous breakups. I Can Be That Woman is a classic ABBA divorce song, except sung mainly to the dog caught in the middle of the dispute; and it’s followed by Keep An Eye On Dan, possibly the first disco number to focus on custody arrangements. Little Things is a ghastly Christmas song complete with a children’s choir, and Ode To Freedom is little more than a lift of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake with lyrics. However, Voyage contributes enough to the ABBA canon to be a worthy late addition.
Andrew P. Street
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INDIE ROCK
How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?
Big Red Machine
Jagjaguwar
Between his regular band The National and his extensive work on Taylor Swift’s pair of linked 2020 albums, Aaron Dessner is enjoying more attention than ever before. He even steps up to the microphone himself on this second album with Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) as Big Red Machine, providing an understated foil to Vernon’s moony falsetto. At once mellow and oversaturated, the album features a deep roster of guests – including Swift – with mixed results. Overall, this is a soup of restless ideas that tend to feel insufficiently realised.
Doug Wallen
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HIP-HOP
The Sun
Bliss n Eso
Flight Deck/Mushroom
Bliss n Eso were once poised to ascend Australian hip-hop’s food chain, nailing a blend of larrikin humour, rambunctious energy and timely moments of sincerity. Despite ongoing commercial success, the trio has been on a steady artistic decline since the 2010s. This sixth LP marks a new low: it’s unfathomable this group produced 2008’s superb Flying Colours. Appearances from Dizzee Rascal and Kasey Chambers sound like they were done via Cameo. Amid diluted pop-rap and lyrics that closely resemble inspirational Facebook memes your aunt posts, Bliss n Eso has jumped the shark.
David James Young
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ELECTRONIC
Sa
Parvyn
Independent
On her solo debut, Punjabi Australian Parvyn Kaur Singh has craftily combined the personal and historic influences that have formed her musical identity. She uses her voice as an instrument, chasing the beat playfully or surfing smoothly over the melody on raga-style Jara. Elsewhere, the 90s club sounds of dubstep and R&B hark to the best of Janet Jackson. On Anchor and Something 29, a glitchy, trip-hop beat lays the foundation under a sweep-slap of synths, as Parvyn’s voice segues from soul to ballad seamlessly. Her skilful layering of vocal and digital sounds – hums, be-bop and chants – is akin to a song as a body, revealed in its naked vulnerability: the heartbeat, the nerves firing, the veins pulsing all in perfect, sacred time. Singh was part of The Bombay Royale, best known for their Bollywood-soundtrack-style modern take on classic Indian music; as a solo artist, she has created a compelling, multi-genre, multicultural masterpiece.
Cat Woods
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