Los Angeles — When Karen O steps on the stage as the frontwoman for Yeah Yeah Yeahs, she is the epitome of feminine ferocity. All that power isn’t without a little glittery razzle-dazzle, grating her bowing fans with a convincing argument to live life in anarchy. Her solo debut album, Crush Songs, is far from the maniacally brilliant woman so many have come to idolize, but it is another side of the icon that is worth knowing.
“When I was 27, I crushed a lot. These songs were written and recorded in private around this time. They are the soundtrack to what was an ever-continuing love crusade, ” O posted in a handwritten note on her website. That explanation ignites a well-lit flame in the dark unknown of her solo musings. The opening track, “Ooo,” introduces the 25 minutes of gritty, unfiltered, yet cutesy and tearful sounds. It is “Rapt,” however, that defines the album’s vulnerability with one line: “love is soft/ love’s a fucking bitch.”
O strips her rock ‘n’ roll persona and leaves it on the floor to reveal her beating heart. While this is indeed her first full-length solo record, O has made acclaimed contributions to movies like Her and Where The Wild Things Are. The reason why her more lovelorn offerings work on soundtracks is because they are simple and emotional. The jagged ballads aren’t ripe enough to sway the audience’s perception, but they do well to enhance that painstaking feeling Joaquin Phoenix, for instance, suffers when he realizes it will never work out with his electronic lover. Crush Songs is a similarly moving brand of narrative.
Who would’ve thought that the woman who so keenly enraptures us with her strength has her exposed, wrecked moments, too? It is delicate despite its shrills, but O doesn’t abandon her ability to separate herself from rockers in a world of imitation. The record isn’t like many other love compilations — it isn’t pretty in its pain. It is a mess, unencumbered.
O isn’t afraid to admit that she, too, is lost in love’s maze. Her story depicts all the stages of infatuation, whether it be the long distance-type of yearning in “NYC Baby,” the confusion in “Visits,” or the euphoric dream state she portrays in “So Far.” The music never goes very deep, but that could be because crushes aren’t as profound as the discovery of true love.
The album ends with a chuckle: “Singalong” is a campfire-like “Kumbaya” moment among harmonizing voices who conclude that it’s all going to be okay, regardless of the mistakes we make in romance along the way.
It’s all very quirky and cool, but it’s nothing extraordinary. (Though if it was O’s intention to disclose tenderness underneath her tough exterior, then she does just fine.) This is the perfect album to cry along to, to listen to on a rainy day, or cozy up to before bed — nothing more and nothing less.
Crush Songs is out this week. She’s got a handful of major market tour dates around the globe also beginning this week.
Ariela Kozin
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