Indigo De Souza is at her finest when she goes massive—not essentially that means shiny manufacturing or fancy thrives, however monumental feeling. De Souza has one of the dynamic voices in indie rock at this time, one which’s refreshingly tough across the edges in a subgenre famous for its vocal homogeneity. Even her behavior of sliding into or hovering across the notes she will be able to’t fairly hit enhances the unease and vulnerability of her songwriting. The phrase “uncooked” feels overused, however that’s how De Souza sounds when she’s working at full energy: like she will be able to’t be contained any longer, like all of the layers have been peeled again, leaving simply her sky-high falsetto and grainy, full-throated yelp. Her latest single “Heartthrob,” with its sticky “Dancing within the Darkish” jangle and jubilant “I actually put my again into it!” appeared as soon as once more to place her coronary heart on the road.
So why does nearly all of De Souza’s fourth LP, Precipice, play it so secure? Why do songs about falling out and in of affection—which felt uniquely life or demise on early highlights like “How I Get Myself Killed”—now appear to come back off the rack within the type of the cutesy “Crush” and country-tinged “Heartbreaker”? Why do a pair of tracks within the album’s second half, “Dinner” and “Clear It Up,” sound like they may’ve been Phoebe Bridgers’ leftovers? Most irritating is when De Souza falls into awkward, unspecific rhyme schemes (“Choose up, say good day/I’m right here, able to go/Like a, a quick automotive/Don’t know in the event you ought to flip it on”) or pop psychology tropes (“At all times holding area”) already memed into mud.
I’ll admit I’ve grown uninterested in the indie rock frontperson–to–pop–star pivot the place, just a few albums in, a dynamic and critically acclaimed lead singer places down the guitar, cleans up their manufacturing, and even suggests this can be their “most private work but,” as if anybody have been going to accuse them of promoting out. However this pivot will be performed actually properly—significantly when it feels extra like a pure growth, and when rock-star charisma interprets to pop. De Souza herself pulled this off masterfully on 2023’s All of This Will Finish. Songs like “Smog” and “The Water” have been grand and danceable; “You Can Be Imply” bit again at an abuser with sass and substance; the showstopping energy ballad “Youthful & Dumber” introduced down the curtain.
Precipice isn’t with out wonderful hooks, and those on “Crying Over Nothing,” “Not Afraid,” and “Heartthrob” let De Souza’s star energy shine via. However when a document’s nice moments are simply that—moments—ready on them is tedious. The xanned-out curler disco of “Crush” will make you need to flip proper again to “Crying Over Nothing,” whereas “Heartthrob,” the lead single, is an oasis within the album’s sluggish center part.
