David Emery Online

the cure by Olivia Rodrigo

Confusingly not about The Cure, even though Olivia Rodrigo has history with the lovable lipstick goths. I once traded emails with Robert Smith when working on a compilation of Paul McCartney covers which he was a part of, and unlike all of the other artists who both a) had managers to deal with the multitude of tedious questions I needed answered for b) clearly didn’t care one jot about the project, Robert was utterly friendly and gracious throughout. Olivia brought out Robert to do ‘Just Like Heaven’ and ‘Friday I’m In Love’ at Glastonbury, and it was a highlight in a set full of highlights.

Her new album is shaping up very nicely, and this second track sounds a bit like Everlong by Foo Fighters, which is not a bad thing to take a melody or two from, is it?

Heart Has To Work So Hard by Blondshell

My experience so far with Blondshell is one of slow and gradual appreciation — both 2023’s self-titled debut and last year’s ‘If You Asked For A Picture’ ended up being played on repeat.

I wasn’t expecting a new album so soon — one is apparently coming later this year — but this first taste picks up right where the last record left off.

Terms of Estrangement by Maya Hawke

I am unsure which is a bigger obstacle to overcome in the quest for music credibility; having famous parents, or being a breakout actor. And yet Maya Hawke has both, and seems utterly unperturbed by the whole deal.

She’s being making great lo-fi singer songwriter stuff for a while now, but this new album is a step up, and ‘Terms of Estrangement’ is my favourite so far (although both ‘Devil You Know’ and ‘Bring Home My Man’ run it close).

Shaftesbury Avenue, London

Vicennial

Oasis, Wembley 2025

Frame of preference

This would be a wonderful trip down memory lane just by itself — and I say this as someone who remembers well everything from about 1991 onwards, which is far too long a go to consider.

But! You realise after a moment that the computer screens throughout aren’t static images, they’re fully working emulators of the damn Macs. The whole thing, Finder, ancient versions of iTunes, Control Strip — history in a bottle, through the narrative of system settings.

Sometimes I struggle a little with everything that the internet has become, but then every once in a while something like this comes along, a piece of art that could only be born on the web, like a pearl in a river of sludge. It’s not all bad.

Glastonbury 2025

What Was That by Lorde

It would be unfair to say — like many others already have — that ‘What Was That’, the new single by Lorde from her upcoming fourth album ‘Virgin’, is a return to form. That would perpetuate the prevalent narrative that 2021’s ‘Solar Power’ was a dud. The internet has decided so, therefore it is so.

Which is tiresome, isn’t it?

Not only am I a ‘Solar Power’ apologist (both record and power source), but it speaks to the exhausting nature of online music criticism. Which has, for the most part, shifted from the professional to the amateur, with a million comment sections, every social post allowing for a snipe, gripe, and reinforcement of the aggregate cultural opinion. ‘Solar Power’ is a good record, a subtle record, that for me fits a slightly different space than a lot of Lorde’s other work. I suspect that, in a decade or so’s time, it will get a reevaluation once there’s a better perspective on her breadth of catalogue.

None of this is to say that ‘What Was That’ isn’t a banger, though, because it is. But interestingly, it still carries through some of the previous records’ lightness of touch, like how the chorus never quite lives up to the build-up, replacing the drop you think you might be getting with a squelchy synth line. Subtlety doesn’t often carry well in the ‘discourse’, but for me Lorde is wielding it on this track with great power (no pun intended).

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