Dilettante – ‘Life Of The Party’ album review: Maximalist to the point of exhaustion
THE SKINNY: Pop too often gets a bad rap. Especially in the music sphere, people can get snooty about the genre. It’s created this unique phenomenon of the idea of the anti-pop pop star, or the outsider pop star, that comes along with an artsy enough edge that the ‘6Music dads’ and ‘cool’ music people can put their weapons down and admit to enjoying it. The new album from Dilettante is a perfect example of it, as it sits firmly in the lineage and draws reference to a whole host of other acts on the pop fringes.
There are clear colours of St Vincent in the album’s theatrical guitar flares. There are Fiona Apple-toned piano ballads that give the simplest tracks an edge, too. Vocally, there are elements of Anna Calvi’s growl or even some Kate Bush acrobatics. All of that means that there is a lot going on. All of those references are incredibly maximalist and powerful. They lead to big, bold sounds that are impressive, but after 12 songs, it begins to feel exhausting.
Life Of The Party is undoubtedly a well-made album. Paul Hamlyn and Francesca Pidgeon at the helm of the project are clearly incredibly talented musicians, there’s no debate there. But what the record lacks is space to breathe. Listening from start to finish, it begins to feel like an onslaught where even the softer songs can’t resist a crescendo. It feels like someone needed, even just once, to slap the musicians’ hands away and remove their foot from the accelerator. In an attempt to keep the record on this cool, artsy side of pop; it’s forgotten the necessary knowledge that shade is just as essential as light and quiet is just as important as volume. In short, it feels like too much packed in, to the point where even details that should be impressive get lost in the noise.
It’s something that the other artists in their lineage have mastered. And while it’s perhaps wrong to directly compare or draw such a tight line of reference between acts, there’s nothing about Life Of The Party that usurped any of the other acts in the same field. Instead, its maximalist attempts at doing something on the edgier side of special result in an album that falls into being unremarkable and weighed down by its busy sound.
For fans of: Wearing the Self Esteem 6Music Dad cap.
A concluding comment from the weird-pop committee: Thanks for your interest in joining the community, take a ticket and join the queue.
Life Of The Party track by track:
Release Date: 11th October 2024 | Producer: Francesca Pidgeon | Label: EMI North
‘Fun’: A high-energy beginning that will please 6Music fans that can only admit to liking pop music when it has a Self Esteem type cool edge. With so much going on, it’s balanced and layered carefully. [2.5/5]
‘Easy Does It’: After the heavily repetitive lyrics of ‘Fun’, the opening of ‘Easy Does It’ doing the same thing leaves your brain feeling like it’s spiralling round and round. Musically, it’s incredibly maximalist still, which is interesting but slightly exhausting. [2.5/5]
‘Stone’: An infectious groove on this one that makes it impossible not to tap your toe to. It’s clear that Dilettante is deeply musically talented, as her instrumentation is impressive, but there’s something about her vocal line that gets grating when everything climaxes to intensity again. [2.5/5]
‘To Make Me Good’: The inch more space provided on this one is refreshing and necessary. With a bit of room to breathe and the chance for her voice to be softer, it reveals a St Vincent coolness or an Anna Calvi-like seductive edge. [3/5]
‘Twice As Clean’: Look, I realise that all these songs are impressive. They’re well made, interesting, and clear displays of talent, but with five songs and seven more to go, the maximalism of it all feels overwhelming. [2/5]
‘In The Taxi’: I’ve never been so relieved to hear a simple piano. There’s a Fiona Apple air to this one as Dilettante maintains an experimental streak in her lyricism and vocal delivery despite a more simplistic musical build. [3/5]
‘Cake’: Dilettante in a very clean lineage of weird and wonderful female artists: St Vincent, Fiona Apple, Regina Spector, Self Esteem, etc. But so far, the record has yet to reveal anything special or gripping enough to make listeners reach for this record over any of those. [2/5]
‘My Toothpaste Ajar’: A grating vocal performance once again. Someone will love this song, but not me sadly. [2/5]
‘I’m In Love With Falling In Love’: I can’t decide if I genuinely really love Dilettante’s sound in these simpler moments, or if I’m merely relieved for a moment of calm. The jazz air here is lovely, though. [3/5]
‘Honey’: A big switch-up in sound with a whole different world of guitar tones. The instruments theatricality across this record is thrilling and interesting, I’ll give it that. [2.5/5]
‘Life Of The Party’: As we near the end, the record remains a tricky complex. It’s at once both incredibly varied and vast, yet in need of more variety with some change-ups in pace from the overwhelming overdrive. [2/5]
‘The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of’: Honestly, I just want to go and sit in a quiet room for a while now. [2/5]
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