art-pop

I only knew a few Aldous Harding songs before Train On The Island, and the first listen was fairly hard going. None of the melodies stood out, and I had no idea what she was singing about, so it wasn’t much fun. It rewards repeat listens, though. A few months on, it’s become a favourite. I’m no closer to understanding the lyrics, but the songs have slowly unravelled and lodged themselves in my head. A good example, appropriately enough, is ‘Worms’. The way in was the arrangement: Hammond organ and Joe Harvey-Whyte’s pedal steel over slow piano.

The production is delicate. Piano dominates, but plenty else comes and goes, from the synth textures on the opener, ‘I Ate The Most’, to details you only catch after several listens. Harding’s own voice is a shapeshifter: her register changes from song to song as needed. It all adds up to dreamlike art pop that tends at times towards folk and psych.

The lyrics are another matter. They’re very abstract, and to get anywhere with them you have to zoom right in. Even then you’re inferring from tone and imagery rather than sentence structure or literal meaning. Collect enough pieces of the puzzle and perhaps the whole picture will eventually reveal itself. I’m still collecting.