So the new Janet Devlin album is way out of the realms of my usual shtick but I feel like it's a good indicator of how much time I've been spending on Tik Tok recently so here's a quick rundown of an album that isn't distorted guitars and blast beats backing someone sounding like they're quite cross.
A little background reading/watching on Confessional to start with and it seem Ms. Devlin sits a little further into "our world" than previously expected. In the years since the Only Musical Opinions That Matters Are Ours Inc. (better known as X-Factor) dropped her like a stone, Devlin has maintained a music career whilst working through various eating disorders, sexual assault, alcohol and drug problems, and a whole deeply depressing bunch more. The album's title then proves as on-the-nose as it gets, acting as a pseudo-diary for everything that Devlin has gone through in that time.
The music of the album stays firmly rooted in a mainstream pop world, despite Devlin's openness of having the likes of Disturbed and System of a Down on regular rotation, Confessional is comfortably a folk pop record heavily influenced by Devlin's Northern Irish roots. The folkier songs are undoubtedly the better ones, "Saint of the Sinnners" and "Holy Water" operate as the dark side/light side of the album, "Sweet Sacred Friend" somehow manages to sound like both "Lean On" by Major Lazer & DJ Snake and "Broke Neck" by John Coffey which confuses the piss out of me but I like it, and "Away with the Fairies" is just a wonderfully uplifting song (again, musically). "Honest Men" stands almost alone for me for the high points of the über-pop portions, but it was at this point that the weight of the album's lyrics started coming through.
Devlin has always forthright in her discussions about her mental health (including joking about a suicide attempt on national TV the absolute madlad) and her experiences and Jesus wept does it come through here too. "Honest Men" feels like the chronicles of Devlin's darkest moments, her longing for death after the collapse of some form of relationship but it's the line "Oh angel of death, why haven't you kissed me yet?" that really got me. The audacity to put something like that on a folk pop record when a metal band that is a festival headliner contender has "I give a shit, I never did; So you can wipe it away, that silly fuckin' grin" is outrageous. I feel like a dick for initially wanting to say "'Honest Men'? What are they? Amiright ladies?"
Tuning into the lyrics more and while nothing (almost thankfully) tops the chorus to "Honest Men", it's Devlin does not want to hold anything back in a lyric sheet that could rub shoulders with anything Midwest emo could conjure up. "You're too young to be sad they say", "You left me without a warning; You left me without a word; You left me now I'm mourning; The goodbye I never heard", pretty much the entirety of the title track all act as gut-punches to whatever part of the brain is meant to give you serotonin. The joyful dity of "Holy Water" almost acts as cleanse by the time you get to the album's closing stages.
By no means is there enough here to get me clambering for tickets for the return of Glasto (or whatever the big pop festival is these days, I've only just found out T in the Park isn't a thing anymore) but the lyrical storytelling here gives hope that maybe modern pop isn't a complete write-off yet. Moreover, if Devlin did want to explore heavier avenues, there's a world of emo and goth rock that would benefit from her talents.
Comments