Torres – ‘What An Enormous Room’ album review: A busy release that demands focus
The Skinny: On What An Enormous Room, Torres refuses to be background noise. It’s an album that will not be relegated to easy listening; press play and go about your day. It won’t allow it. As the sounds and energy change up with each track, regularly switching up to totally different sonic landscapes with no clear emotional through-path, it’s not an album willing to be a soundtrack to something else. It demands to be the full show.
To some degree, it makes the record an exciting and meaty release. As she rolls between sounds, plummeting from more classic indie rock elements into glitchy spoken word moments or soaring into angelic ballads, the listener feels strapped into an emotional rollercoaster, too. The tale and tone of the lyricism, despite being largely buried and sometimes muffled, is translated into the sonics. As the artist sits on the record as a producer as well, everything feels guided solely by her hand and vision.
But in some places and in the wrong moments, the intricacies of What An Enormous Room are overwhelming. Everything on the album is so considered, so produced, and so heavily done up that if you zone out too much, it becomes a wall to break through.
It felt like an album I should like. There’s a sense that Torres wants her listeners to find rich meaning within it or be awed by the level of detail and different sounds within. She knows exactly what she’s doing and does it to the nth degree in every aspect, almost shunning the listener in search of her own perfection. She’s on her own path, and as the songs seamlessly roll from one to another, we’re merely there for the ride. But rather than feeling carried through, something about the record feels more like being dragged along on Torres’ journey.
However, by the time the final track, ‘Songbird Forever’ came in, the emotional profundity is suddenly tear-jerking. After the ups and downs, the modulation between loud and quiet and the relentlessness of the multitude of details added, the final song felt like heaven. Something in the sparser sound of the album’s final tracks got me to eventually surrender to the album and let myself be pulled along and pulled in. In the closing moments, it revealed itself to be an unassumingly emotional release.
All in all, What An Enormous Room demands attention and feeling, whether you give it freely or have it dragged out of you.
For fans of: Murder mysteries where the motive isn’t revealed until the very last act.
A concluding comment from Tom’s mother: “If it was a house, it would be a very beautiful apartment… with too much clutter and room sprays that make you nauseous.”
WWhat An Enormous Room track by track:
Release date: 26th January | Producer: Mackenzie Scott and Sarah Jaffe | Label: Merge
‘Happy Man’s Shoes’: Opening with discordant keys and a marching beat, Torres wastes no time. The whispering spoken word details, matched with headphone-shattering guitars, set the tone for the high-low to come. [3/5]
‘Life As We Don’t Know It’: Diving into the indie rock sound but with a heavier grunge element, the tension is built on this track without a moment of release until its abrupt end. On shuffle, it would be jarring. In service of the album, it’s thrilling. [3/5]
‘I Got The Fear’: The thumping drum beats instantly come back in, not giving you a moment of peace. However, the acoustic guitar on this track and the lifting of Torres’ vocals more towards the front of the mix is a welcome move. Allowing you to hear her lyrics better and dive into the feeling, it’s a subtle standout. [3.5/5]
‘Wake To Flowers’: Traversing sonic landscapes once again, the album continues its unrelenting mission onwards. A track that views hope as a muscle you need to exercise, the marching beat forces your feet to move as instructed. However, the loud guitar line following Torres’ every word smothers her lyricism to an irritating end. [3/5]
‘Ugly Mystery’: If you’re not in the mood to listen to an album with SO much going on and so many musical layers, this is the point where it becomes fatiguing. In the song’s quieter moments, beauty is there in the flashes of poetic lyrics and vocal glory. But as the guitar swells and falls, the subtle reverb on Torres’ vocals continues, and the marching drums keep ploughing onward, it is starting to get a little exhaustive. [2.5/5]
‘Collect’: The same fly and fall between loud and quiet continues. While delivering on instrumental intensity, listening to the album in bulk like this makes it feel relentless. On ‘Collect’ especially, every second seems to throw something new in your face, forcing the listener to keep up and adjust their volume setting accordingly. [2.5/5]
‘Artificial Limits’: Torres steps back into her previous, more traditional indie rock sound for a moment. The drums here are delicious as they become more rolling than marching. But when the organ comes in, and her vocals are buried again, I can’t help but wish I was hearing less of everything else and more of just her. [3/5]
‘Jerk Into Joy’: Strange and spiralling, ‘Jerk Into Joy’ feels like breaking through a ceiling into something higher and better. Finally, giving her vocals some space and parring everything else back is exactly what the previous tracks lacked. [4/5]
‘Forever Home’: Caroline Polachek fans will love this track. With the same vocal acrobatics and theatrical edge to the alternative world, it’s a fun addition. [3.5/5]
‘Songbird Forever’: Full of light and relief, ‘Songbird Forever’ feels like a hardwon, beautiful ending. It makes the rest of the album worth it somehow. It’s hard to put a finger on what makes the track so moving. But in its simplicity, it’s simply heavenly. [4.5/5]
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