LOUISE LEMÓN
Louise Lemón is transpiring to be something of a prolific recording artist since her arrival on the scene a couple of years back. With her sultry and sublimely melancholic 2018 debut, ‘Purge LP’, and a more refined outing of such on last year’s masterpiece, ‘A Broken Heart is an Open Heart’, she’s now set to release her next death-gospel gem, simply titled ‘Devil’. Another winner, for sure - five further songs across fifteen minutes - this EP falls just ever so slightly short of the sublime heights that made its predecessor such a special work of art… but only by a whisker. These new tracks are still so utterly beautiful through their hauntingly atmospheric ethereality, through both instrumentations and Lemón’s gently dreamy, sultry vocal delivery. They also remain steeped in exquisitely crafted melancholia and filtered through tons of wistfully alluring reverb. It’s impossible not to become affectively ensnared by songs’ profoundly expressed sentiments.
Like her other work, the songs on ‘Devil’ carry an emotionally potent transportive power. As I noted with her last album, this one is purely about the affecting experience beyond any contemplations of compositional judgements. It’s art that doesn't draw attention to its creative constitution. Pure art, one could say. There’s certainly a purity about the songs here. I guess songs’ sense of emotional immediacy derives from Lemón’s decision to make this EP, “in an honest way and really make it a natural process. After making my last record, which was very produced, I wanted to head to the studio and record it straight as it sounds. I wanted to capture the live sound and I wanted to get the grittiness on tape.” She’s certainly achieved that.
Minimalist in constitution once again, but with maximum emotional potency, it’s probably misleading to believe press blurb claims that this is “dark pop”. I’m not all that fond of that label, to be honest. Well, I’m not a fan of labels and pigeonholing in general. I think “pop” is all too often lazily appropriated to indicate something that’s accessible through the listening experience. And sure, there might be a darkness to the material, but it’s a very beautiful one. This is beauty in darkness conveyed to perfection. So, yeah, don’t let genre labels dictate your listening proclivities or, in fact, mislead you. ‘Devil’ is an EP to be experienced… emotionally.
Like her other work, the songs on ‘Devil’ carry an emotionally potent transportive power. As I noted with her last album, this one is purely about the affecting experience beyond any contemplations of compositional judgements. It’s art that doesn't draw attention to its creative constitution. Pure art, one could say. There’s certainly a purity about the songs here. I guess songs’ sense of emotional immediacy derives from Lemón’s decision to make this EP, “in an honest way and really make it a natural process. After making my last record, which was very produced, I wanted to head to the studio and record it straight as it sounds. I wanted to capture the live sound and I wanted to get the grittiness on tape.” She’s certainly achieved that.
Minimalist in constitution once again, but with maximum emotional potency, it’s probably misleading to believe press blurb claims that this is “dark pop”. I’m not all that fond of that label, to be honest. Well, I’m not a fan of labels and pigeonholing in general. I think “pop” is all too often lazily appropriated to indicate something that’s accessible through the listening experience. And sure, there might be a darkness to the material, but it’s a very beautiful one. This is beauty in darkness conveyed to perfection. So, yeah, don’t let genre labels dictate your listening proclivities or, in fact, mislead you. ‘Devil’ is an EP to be experienced… emotionally.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Icons Creating Evil Art
EP
DEVIL
Review by Mark Holmes
RUNNING TIME:
15:02
RELEASE DATE:
29th May 2020
TRACK LISTING
1) Devil
2) Forever Alone
3) Taurus Woman
4) Bathe in Gold
5) All My Tears
2) Forever Alone
3) Taurus Woman
4) Bathe in Gold
5) All My Tears
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
Sweden
"...beauty in darkness conveyed to perfection."
