Lorde - ‘Virgin’
Photo by Thistle Brown
Virgin is the fourth studio album from indie pop queen Lorde and it is most assuredly artistically bold. There is also a sonic evolution of sorts with an aesthetic pivot away from the anticlimactic, sunny, folky Mamas & the Papas shades of “Solar Power.” We are no longer in the warmth that surrounded that release.
This is a hyper modern album, stripped back and sharp from start to finish with dashes of rave music and electronica thrown in for good measure. It is jagged, dark and fierce with skeletal beats, thudding industrial rhythms and uneasy spaces. In between the mechanical layers, we are given the odd anthemic chorus, some high energy tracks, but this feels more like Lorde exploring sonic textures rather than churning out indie pop hits.
The lyrics are unquestionably strong, dealing with mature themes that span through religion, identity, and trauma; it is an honest album that is full of confessional candour. Lorde is in raw expression mode and she doesn’t seem to mind if it dismantles her ‘pop persona’ in the process.
Some issues with Virgin come from the tendency to make the songs a little too minimal, both in terms of instrumentation and track duration. There is an underlying feeling of a lack of memorable hooks and melodies. The most striking elements are the odd synth choices whilst the vocals wash over you with a breathy intimacy. Virgin is not as striking as Pure Heroine.
We also have eleven compositions clocking in at thirty-four minutes, which is just a pinch shorter than the albums that came before it, but I would argue that this makes the record feel like more of a mixtape. This is not as cinematic as what I would have expected from Lorde and does fail to leave a strong impression after the first few plays. The themes are not fully explored musically to the depth that the lyrics demand. Then again, the brevity could be argued as playing further into the mindset of fragmentation and chaos.
Virgin does not chase approval and it does not seek commercial appeal. It does not offer comfort or give resolution– this is exactly why I find the album and Lorde so fascinating.