Slow Pulp Makes Peace With Impermanence in “Melodie”
The Chicago-based indie-rock–dream-pop hybrid group has done it again, hitting it out of the park with their newest release, Melodie, an 11-track album that hits all the sweet spots in instrumentation, lyricism, and overall listenability.
As usual the guitar work by Henry Stoehr is a standout among the tantalizing lyrics and tunes featured in Melodie. There’s great variation in the album from the acoustic feel of the album’s opener “Yellow and Green” to the rock beat on “Better Man”, one of Melodie’ pre-release singles.
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Thematically, Melodie is fascinated by the strange limbo that precedes major change. There’s an itch to move forward, but also a sense of paralysis that comes from not knowing what comes next or how to get there. Throughout the album, that uncertainty manifests as a recurring need for guidance. You can hear that longing in lines like:
“Can you tell me somewhere to be tonight?”
“Well it seems you know what to do, and maybe I can get there too.”
“I can take the hit, if you lead me to the road where I’m found.”
The midpoints of the album have contrasting sound profiles but explore similar emotions. “Red Car” drives on a head-bopping backbeat and includes desperate lyrics like: “Crash into me, I need a new start” and “It was never meant for me, but I wanna know. I need to know”. Meanwhile, “Not for Nothing” channels that same sense of desperation through the familiar construction of a lovesick ballad, built around heavy piano and a more subdued, yearning texture.
The track I’ll personally have on repeat is the penultimate feature “Up to You”. I’m a sucker for songs that feel well-suited for contemplative montages in coming of age films. Lines like “I want you to find me where I am” stick with me, painting an image of the kind of late night drives you take while evaluating whether to hold on or let go of a relationship. It’s the album’s dreamiest track, and I can’t wait to sing it with my hands raised and swaying at their next live show.
Melodie concludes with a gritty shout in “Slip Away”. For an album all about change, it seems only right to close with a song about the fallout of impermanence. Lead vocalist Emily Massey belts the lines “Everything feels easy when I forget that everything is different when it’s over. Then I slip away”, capturing the all-too-human instinct to navigate life’s constant changes by looking away from what hurts.
