At first glance, this album may look more like a challenging scholarly quiz than the latest popular music record by a musician who just had a previous single featured an international pop star. Broken into 4 different parts and sung in 13 tongues, it is a dizzying orchestral-influenced work that delves into female mystique, spiritual transcendence, and bodily change, frequently through the perspective of various female saints. The end of a love affair—a topic treated with raw honesty elsewhere—is launched upwards on this record, carried by the constant sound of a full orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning composer within an extensive list of collaborators. Its sheer audacity by itself makes the efforts of other artists seem quite laughable.
Rising Above Academic Pretense
The fact that Lux manages to transcend dry academic chin-stroking feels nearly miraculous, with sole praise going to the artist. Although it's not the first time album to blend historical sounds with the present, the ambitions are far higher on Lux, and the tightrope walk far more precarious. The element that really raises her fourth release, outside of its multilayered tunes, dense arrangements, and engrained drama, proves to be an essential spirit of fun. Much like the legendary Björk during her peak, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls the listener into its tornado. Even when she's breaking your heart in two, the listener nevertheless want to stay alongside her for the ride.
A Prime Moment of Exuberance
This playful energy shines brightly on the stunning piano-led ballad inspired by Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy over more than four moments. Suddenly, all the music drops away, to reveal we hear a spontaneous laugh followed by a comment before a hilariously exaggerated orchestral surge crashes down like cartoonish impact. The song then segues to the wild track featuring galloping orchestration, an imposing choral group, and a surprise role from none other than Björk.
"The charm with this album is that you rarely exactly understand—nor wish to know—where you will go next."
Almost each song concludes at a totally distinct place than where it started. One moment examines the fleeting nature of celebrity with a delicate symphony before disintegrating into electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a cut echoing the artist's earlier rhythmic work starts off dark and sinister, with menacing vocals, before sudden flamenco handclaps and an angelic choir arrive to soften its rough edges.
The Bridge Of Art & Pop
A key balancing act on Lux involves straddling the gap of bold experimentation and mainstream appeal. This is no coincidence that it has achieved her first work to break into the upper reaches of key charts: its heart contains a suite of utterly catchy hits. One track performed primarily in the English language swells around a chorus that seems to collect increasingly infectious melodies as it spins skyward. This feat gets echoed by another powerful ballad that grows and constricts, intertwining layered tunes like a complex tapestry.
- A dance-infused song seduces via its playful, theatrical flair and a chant-along hook.
- In its words, it shares the pop culture impact of contemporary breakup songs, eviscerating an ex- lover labeled an "emotional terrorist".
- Throughout these tracks, the singing have a sharp smile, akin to a storybook figure hiding a blade: "Gold medal in acting like a scoundrel / You've the podium of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Soul
This album represents popular music on a grand level, an ambitious reach for high Art in an era of impending artificial blankness. It eschews self-absorption in favor of glorious elevation, crafting a dramatic drama that masterfully controls its inherent ridiculousness. This is a deep well of buried gems that takes patience to fully mine but doesn't feels like a chore. While other big pop albums of the year felt like feasting on scraps, Lux offers a sumptuous banquet at which the characters at it, perhaps intoxicated on sacred wine, flutter between conversations about ancient figures, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking grief, and common stories about useless partners. In essence, it's a modern-day theatrical production from music's truly restlessly creative visionary.
