"Lizzy McAlpine - Older" Uninspiring at Best

    I have no strong opinions on Lizzy McAlpine, and will not pretend like I have any. I don't listen to much Indie Folk, though I am a fan of Fleet Foxes, so if McAlpine's music is anything similar than maybe I have a chance at enjoying this. I will say I have known of McAlpine's existence for a while, though in the sense that I also know who Kacey Musgraves is and never particularly listened to or felt a need to listen to her music. I fully expect this album to be fine enough, but who knows maybe I find one or two songs I enjoy. My friend Erock recommended this album, so I will listen to it regardless of my opinion. So without further ado, my track-by-track review.

Older - Lizzy McAlpine

The Elevator - 60/100 A solid enough track, though not one that I'd ever listen to again. The instrumentation is decent especially near the end where it begins to crescendo. I don't think I can rate this track very highly because it very clearly feels like an intro track which most fans will never listen to again.

Come Down Soon - 70/100 I have many, many thoughts on the sort of wispy singing that has become more popular, with the worst "offenders" if one might suggest being artists like Clairo and Billie Eilish. I would say that compared to Fleet Foxes the instrumentation is not nearly as lush, nor does the voice sound as interesting or dynamic. I think part of what I really love about the folk music of Fleet Foxes is the emotion you can really feel Robin Pecknold's voice in tandem with it all. Lizzy really doesn't have that, it feels almost strained in a sense? This sort of limits how much I enjoy this song to be honest.

Like It Tends To Do - 45/100 I don't hate slow songs, I just am very picky with them. You don't even know who I am by Underscores, great song, and the intro of this track almost reminds me of it. Divine Intervention by Taking Back Sunday? Also great. This song? Like I mentioned before, McAlpine's voice just doesn't do enough for me, at least emotionally, to really carry a track that has a simple guitar backing to it. Like if she was performing this song in front of me, I'd listen intently, I wouldn't yawn, but I don't think I'd get much from anything. Not awful, but teetering on pretty boring enough that I'm giving it a negative score.

Movie Star - 40/100 Oh is this like This is How Tomorrow Moves by Beabadoobee where she teases you with a faster song and shoves a bunch of really slow songs that bog downs the album and really halts any sort of momentum that could have been built? Even less interesting than the last track to be honest.

All Falls Down - 80/100 Is this a clarinet I hear? Maybe Lizzy decided to wake people up who fell asleep from the last two songs. Probably won't be my favourite song titled All Falls Down (I'd shoutout Kanye but frankly his ego is big enough that he doesn't need it in his current state), but hey at least she's trying. It's a quaint little track at least. I almost enjoy it to be honest. Woah she put on vocal effects and is experimenting with different volume levels? Alright Ms. McAlpine I'm impressed, hopefully she builds upon this momentum and the album keeps on delivering good songs.

Staying - 55/100 I suppose this is better than the other slow tracks so far. I don't know why it's so short though. This track is somehow not even 2 minutes long when it feels like it should only be growing from the point it ends. Truly a bizarre move she should be letting this song breathe.

I Guess - 60/100 You see, this song is almost four minutes long, and she actually did manage to do a semi-satisfying buildup/climax in a song. Too bad I couldn't care less for the first half where she actually tries building something up.

Drunk, Running - 55/100 Ok I know this song is about alcoholism but it's so jarring to hear someone try and sing the words Red Bull Vodka in a serious tone. The bridge is kind of interesting though, it certainly does inspire something minor within me. Sadly I can't say the same about the rest of the song.

Broken Glass - 60/100 You know I want to applaud this album for being more interesting sonically than I thought. The only issue is that bar was not very high, and I still don't think it's interesting enough for me to really give it a good score.

You Forced Me To - 50/100 We've gone to songs with interesting bits in otherwise incredibly boring songs to songs with almost interesting bits and nothing that actually moves me.

Older - 65/100 I listened to this song before because it had the most listens on this album, so I wanted to see if there was a chance I might enjoy it. If you want to hear what I think is a better track on growing older and still not having your life together/the dread many young adults feel, go listen to 20 Something by SZA, a much more dynamic vocalist that really touches my soul with how she bares her emotion there. Even still, with that out of the way I honestly don't hate this track, I do think McAlpine's singing stands out a bit more here than the rest of the other tracks, and I think the piano compliments the tone of this track overall.

Better Than This - 60/100 Lyrically, I do sympathize with McAlpine, feeling as if you aren't a good person is a normal feeling that many people feel, and this idea of pushing away a loved one because you don't deserve them is a tale as old of time. I mean isn't that what the quote from The Perks of Being a Wallflower was all about? For someone that never used Tumblr it's influence on me is stronger than I'd like to admit.

March - 40/100 This song makes me feel nothing.

Vortex - 75/100 I'm not against five minute songs, one of my favourite tracks this year is Death & Romance by Magdalena Bay. What I do doubt is McAlpine's ability to make a five minute track that compels me, considering she's failed to do that on basically all but two songs so far. You know if I close my eyes I can almost hear Olivia Rodrigo at some points, which is a compliment considering I do actually quite like Rodrigo's music, and thought that she actually showed some good vocal chops on the slow songs off of SOUR. Alright, this final song is pretty good McAlpine has proven me wrong. It's almost as if she let the song breathe, and included a nice crescendo into a climax that feels satisfying for a final track, while also delivering one of her best vocal performances in this entire album.

Final Score: 58/100

    So I finished this album and immediately put back on All Falls Down, which is a cute little track and definitely my favourite out of all the songs here. I think my point at the beginning still stands to be honest. While McAlpine has shown some range I was skeptical of at the beginning, ultimately these songs don't stand out enough vocally, or instrumentally to really impress me on either front. The same could be said about the lyrics, which are fine but also haven't blown me away. Keep in mind I am picky about slow songs, so that was really a big swing factor in my enjoyment of this album. Even still, McAlpine is fine enough, hence why I didn't give too many songs a negative score, even if I thought they were pretty uninteresting to me, because they were inoffensive enough, with some of them having parts that bordered on captivating to me. Would I be jumping out of my seat to listen to McAlpine, even when I am in the mood for slow music? (this is important to note considering I mostly listened to pop-punk/emo music this year) Probably not, I just think there are more interesting artists, especially in the indie/folk lane. I'd rather listen to Florence + The Machine, I'd rather listen to Fleet Foxes, but McAlpine did show more than I thought, so hey maybe there's a chance she'll impress me down the line and I give this album a better shot than it got this time around.