★★★
The somewhat condescending assumption that commercial albums are ‘lesser’ than grainier, more difficult work is one that has retaken a disappointingly firm grip on contemporary culture in recent years.
Just take the enormous sniff let out by critics and consumers alike when Margaret Glaspy’s Emotions And Math was picked as triple j’s album of the week, as though the selection sliced the work’s cool factor in half.
And yet to deny Glaspy’s album is to deny a relentlessly enjoyable record. Inhabiting the same slick yet sad, rough yet ready territory as records like Ryan Adams and King Krule’s 6 Feet Beneath The Moon, the piece balances hurt and heart.
Tracks like ‘No Matter Who’ seem ready-suited for both late night revelry and later night introspection, whereas the stripped back ‘Somebody To Anybody’ shows off Glaspy’s skills as a songwriter.
“I keep my head down and my eyes wide,” Glaspy sings, carving out the kind of chorus one can imagine fans writing on their walls, or getting printed on their skin. After all, she writes lyrics that fans will want to keep close – words you can build a world around.
Margaret Glaspy’sEmotions And Mathis available through ATO.
