February Album Recap: Paramore, Gorillaz, Kelea, & More
This February has been a packed month for new releases. After 2022’s star-studded schedule, it’s nice to see some more indie and veteran artists getting their spotlight early in the year. Here are some albums you might have missed!
Caroline Polacheck – Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
Pop iconoclast Caroline Polacheck dropped the long-awaited follow-up to her 2019 debut Pang with another collection of shimmering beats. To me, this album is an improvement in nearly every way. The beats hit harder, the synths have more glow, and Polacheck’s voice and evocative lyricism stand just as tall as ever. The themes of yearning for self-fulfillment are inspiring and fully backed up by the soundscape. This release makes me even more excited to see what Polacheck is capable of if she could grow a bit more out of her genre trappings.
Rating: 7.5/10
Favorite Track: “Sunset”
Gorillaz – Cracker Island
Damon Albarn’s legendary character band returns with a newfound energy. After a run of good but forgettable releases over the past few years, this new album displays the quality of songwriting and production that’s to be expected from the over-20-year-old project along with a fresh and engaging narrative. The album comes out of the project’s migration to California, and that influence shows in both the production sensibilities and the overarching theme alluding to a cult of influencers, yuppies, and stans. The album also showcases one of Gorillaz’s most star-studded feature lineups yet, with Bad Bunny, Thundercat, Tame Impala, and even Stevie Nicks lending some great support. This is one of the band’s best releases in years.
Rating: 7.5/10
Favorite Track: “New Gold (feat. Tame Impala and Bootie Brown)”
Kelela – Raven
Kelela’s long-awaited return does not disappoint at all. From the very first track, this project shows off a vast, sweeping soundscape for the captivating singer to inhabit. Production from a roster of electronica experts including Kaytranada, Bambii, and especially ambient duo OCA, fill the tracklist with shimmering melodies, thundering bass, and an ever-present ocean of reverb. The result is an accurate reflection of the cover: a blissful enveloping of the body and soul that I got absolutely lost in.
Rating: 8/10
Favorite Track: “Washed Away”
Paramore – This Is Why
Paramore’s last full-length release, 2017’s After Laughter, garnered mixed reviews for its sudden jump to dance-infused pop-rock. This new release combines that sound with the band’s punky roots to create an album that hits just right. The tight list of 10 songs features banger after banger with minimal fluff. Each track feeds off of the various frustrations of our modern world, from the barrage of doom-scrolling narratives on “The News,” to reckoning with our own impotence on “You First.” The whole project burns with a palpable anger that was extremely cathartic to listen through.
Rating: 8.5/10
Favorite Track: “This Is Why”
Parannoul – After the Magic
Enigmatic South Korean producer Parannoul made a splash in the shoegaze sphere with their 2021 release To See the Next Part of the Dream. Their new release focuses the vast sounds of that album into something much more accessible, a development that I found to be for the better. The songwriting often feels evocative of the melancholy typical to K- and J-Pop, while the production pushes the sound to its limit, building to dramatic crescendos that feel at once colorful and washed-out. If you’re a fan of noisy shoegaze or interested to see what it's about, this is definitely one to check out.
Rating: 8.5/10
Favorite Track: “Arrival”
Skrillex – Quest For Fire
Skrillex returns after nearly a decade since his last solo project. The new twin albums, Quest For Fire and Don’t Get Too Close also represent the dubstep visionary’s return from a media blackout, and they clearly display a lot of personal growth from that period. I found Quest for fire to be the far better and more fleshed-out of the two. The production is more colorful and polished, and the directionality in the songwriting is a drastic improvement over the artist’s previous work, even if it’s deployed inconsistently. If you have any interest in what Skrillex sounds like after 10 years, this is one to check out.
Rating: 6/10
Favorite Track: “XENA”
Tennis – Pollen
Tennis remains one of the best in the business in groovy, glamorous songs that feel both modern and timeless. This new release is no different and includes some of the duo’s best hit material yet. This is another tight tracklist where nearly every song earns its place. This album will no doubt be a source of enjoyable listening for the spring season.
Rating: 7/10
Favorite Track: “Let’s Make a Mistake Tonight”
U.S. Girls – Bless This Mess
Meghan Remy’s U.S. Girls are scaling back their typical lush narratives into a fun, immediate disco album. The singles on this are by far the best parts, combining infectious grooves with imaginative songwriting featuring ideas from modern mythological allegories to sentient formal wear. Through all the colorful concepts, Remy ties it all together with the project’s trademark focus on the complicated nature of love and desire. The deep cuts can be a bit forgettable, but that shouldn’t keep you from giving this one a shot.
Rating: 6.5/10
Favorite Track: “So Typically Now”
Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World
Yo La Tengo’s seventeenth studio album is mostly exactly what you’d expect from the underground darlings. The songwriting is the usual fair, with washed-out guitar effects laid over songs of vague anxiety. It’s also exactly what you’d expect from any band’s seventeenth album: largely devoid of anything new to say. If you like Yo La Tengo, you will probably like this album just fine. If you aren’t into their classic work, this probably won’t convince you.
Rating: 4.5/10
Favorite Track: “Tonight’s Episode”
Listen to all of our favorite releases from February on Spotify: