Frankie Rose – Herein Wild

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Last year, Frankie Rose broke into a solo career with an excellent record called Interstellar. It was a decided step away from her noise pop projects, including the Vivian Girls and Crystal Stilts, but its spacious, orchestral qualities and punchy drums proved successful. It also established Rose as a competent songwriter, impressing listeners with airy yet luscious melodies over varied instrumentation. Herein Wild is the Brooklyn songwriter’s latest effort, a collection of ten tracks of diaphanous pop ranging from the ambient and delicate to the shimmering and dynamic. Taken together, the album sounds like a conceptual facsimile of Interstellar–in order, each song oddly resembles those from her last disc. Opener “You For Me,” for instance, is nearly identical to the introduction of Interstellar, while the upbeat timbre of “Sorrow” contains a hook akin to past single “Know Me.” It’s an odd parity, no doubt, but the consistency isn’t necessarily a weak component. Having devoted so much time to clamorous musical forms, Rose is only just breaking out of a post-punk mold. Her ability, then, to contrast dreamlike songs like “Cliffs as High,” piano chords elegantly laden throughout, with high-tempo rock on “Question/Reason” is impressive. For fans of New Wave groups like the Cure and budding dream pop outfits DIIV and Beach House, this record should be a worthwhile listen. (Fat Possum, fatpossum.com) Harrison Samphir

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