Initially, Lux might appear more like a difficult academic challenge rather than a new popular music record from a musician who just had a last single featured an international pop icon. Divided across four different movements and performed in thirteen languages, we have a head-spinning classical-tinged work that delves into female mystery, religious ascent, and bodily change, often via the prism of various women saints. The end of a love affair—a topic handled with raw honesty elsewhere—soars heavenward here, supported by the lush presence of a major orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter among a long roll call of contributors. Its sheer daring by itself renders the work of other artists appear quite laughable.
Rising Above Academic Pretense
The fact that this album succeeds in avoid dry academic chin-stroking feels nothing short of miraculous, and sole credit belonging to the artist. Although it's not the first time project to fuse historical sounds with modern styles, the scale feel far higher on Lux, and the tightrope walk far more dramatic. The element that really elevates her fourth album, outside of its multilayered tunes, dense compositions, and inherent theatricality, is an essential sense of fun. Much like the iconic artist at her height, you find a captivating quality to the vocalist's voice that pulls you into its tornado. Even when she's breaking your heart apart, you still want to be right there through the journey.
A Signature Moment of Joy
That exuberant energy shines clearly during a stunning piano-led song inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy over several moments. Suddenly, everything falls silent, to reveal there's a spontaneous giggle and a comment before a hilariously over-the-top string surge crashes in like cartoonish force. The track immediately shifts into the wild single driven by racing strings, an imposing choral group, and a surprise role from none other than Björk.
"The magic of this album lies in the listener never exactly understand—or even wish to predict—what it is going next."
Nearly each track finishes at a completely different place than where it started. A track examines the fleeting nature of celebrity over a delicate orchestration only to collapsing in electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a song that recalls the artist's previous rhythmic work begins off moody and brooding, featuring prowling beats, before fluttering flamenco rhythms and a heavenly choir arrive to smooth the song's jagged corners.
The Balance Between Experiment & Accessibility
A key balancing act on the album is straddling the gap of bold experimentation and broad appeal. This is no coincidence that it has become the artist's highest-charting release to crack the upper reaches of major charts: at its core a collection of truly catchy pop songs. One track sung primarily in the English language swells around a chorus that feels to collect increasingly nagging hooks while it spins upward. This trick is echoed by another powerful track that expands and contracts, intertwining multiple tunes as an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like number charms via its jaunty, Disney-adjacent drama and an anthemic chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares with cultural impact of other heartbreak anthems, lambasting an ex- partner described as an "psychological terrorist".
- Across the album, the singing have a painted-on edge, akin to a storybook character concealing a knife: "Top prize in being a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of disappointment."
A Maximalist Feast for the Soul
This album is popular music on a grand level, a hungry reach for high Art in an era of looming artificial sameness. It eschews solipsism in favor of sublime elevation, crafting an over-the-top drama that masterfully manages its inherent excess. It is an abundant source of buried gems that requires time to fully mine but doesn't feels like a chore. While other big pop albums of the year felt like feasting on meal, this record is a sumptuous feast where the guests around the table, perhaps tipsy on holy wine, flutter between discussions about ancient figures, the profound sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and common gossip about useless partners. It is a modern-day theatrical production from music's truly restlessly inventive practitioner.
