Notes

From the moment I first heard her previous album, “Ultraviolence”, I was hooked. Honeymoon then became my most anticipated album of 2015.

And I was not disappointed.

From the moment the first strings on the title song began, I could feel that this was going to be another unforgettable dive into the cinematic, haunting world of Lana Del Rey’s music. In fact I recommend listening to this album for the first time in total darkness on your own if you can.

This isn’t required, but it really helped me to absorb the music as much as possible.

Melancholy

The melancholy of her previous album is still present but feels more upbeat this time around. You can hear this notably on the album’s first single, “High by the beach”.

Not that melancholy is a bad thing at all – some of my favourite music is just that – what I’m trying to get at is that her unique sound is still there, but she’s taking it into new places.

She’s an artist who isn’t afraid to push her voice to the front and centre – often making her sound vulnerable and alone.

This is demonstrated perfectly in “Terrance Loves You”. This is minimally backed through the opening verses, and builds to a soaring chorus, still managing to stay somehow minimal – just herself, piano and strings.

Well I lost myself when I lost you
But I still got jazz when I’ve got the blues
I lost myself and I lost you too
And I still get trashed, honey, when I hear your tunes

From “Terrance Loves You”, Track 3.

The sound of the album

She often harmonizes with herself backed by minimal, reverbed instruments – pianos and light strings. This helps create that unique world I mentioned earlier: haunting; cinematic. Saying that however there are plenty of uses of light drum beats in this album – often when building to the climax of a song, never just for the sake of having a drum beat.

The melodies throughout this album are gorgeous too. The pan pipe sounding intro to Salvatore is a great, hypnotic example of this, which she replicates vocally for the chorus.

Ah-ah-ah-ah, Ah-ah-ah-ah, Cacciatore.
Ah-ah-ah-ah, Ah-ah-ah-ah, Limousines.
Ah-ah-ah-ah, Ah-ah-ah-ah, Ciao Amore.
Ah-ah-ah-ah, Ah-ah-ah-ah, Soft ice cream.

From “Salvatore”, Track 10.

My favourite song on the album would probably have to be 24. It’s a crowning achievement on a great album, which show’s off something that I’ve been saying for a while – if she wanted to, she could write one hell of a bond song.

In fact Spectre has recently been released – the 24th bond film. Coincidence? Or is this a cheeky wink from Miss Grant? I’d like to think the latter.

In Conclusion

If you’ve never listened to a Lana Del Rey album before, this is as good as any to start with. My personal favourite of hers overall is probably still “Ultraviolence”, but this album also has a couple of my favourite songs of hers.

If you have heard her previous albums and are yet to listen to this one, wait no longer. You wont be disappointed.

What are your favourite songs of Lana’s? Let me know in the comments below.

Just bought my first CD in I don’t know how long – Adele’s 25. So much better buying the physical thing and looking through the inlay book.

I’m really impressed with Mirrors the Sky album by Lyla Foy (@lylafoy on Twitter).

First moments of that album, and a couple of songs further in, her voice sounds like an early Stevie Nicks.

Listened twice this evening and may go for a third.

I’ll give most things a try but that Rebecca Black song is terrible

Thanks to @Grimezsz for introducing me to Skinny Puppy.

Is there anybody out there? The Wall live 1980-81. One the greatest live recordings.

https://soundcloud.com/alvin-thechipmunkson16sp

It’s coming… Grimes’ new album Art Angels, out tomorrow!

Jams were a type of content popularized by the website This is my jam.

This is my jam has since gone into read-only archive mode. This is such a great way of closing a website — especially one whose content is mostly community-created.

I started to use the site at the end of last year to start saving songs that stood out to me at a particular time.

Thanks to This is my jam for making me an archive of my own. This means I haven’t lost all of my data with them just because they have closed doors.

I still love the idea of saving individual “jams” though, so I have implemented it on my own site as of today. I have also pulled my old jams into my site. Going forwards I look forward to documenting any new and/or forgotten gems that I hear in the future. They will all be found on my Jams page.

Adele’s voice just blows me away.