Cultural Dessert

I’ve been listening to the most anticipated debut album of recent years, ‘Born To Die’ by Lana Del Ray, which was released on Monday. I haven’t really been following all the hype, which seemed to centre on outrage in the media that Lana Del Ray turned out to be a character rather than a real person – which doesn’t seem a terribly newsworthy scandal in the world of pop music. I came to the music without much of the backstory and have been enjoying the album on its own merits. This is incredibly catchy pop with a hint of dreamy strangeness.  It’s lusciously produced with soaring strings, gentle piano chords, drums and electronic beats, plenty of echo, some light rapping and Lana Del Ray’s haunting, very slightly slurred vocals. It’s the tunes and their delivery that make ‘Born To Die’ addictive pop. The lyrics don’t bear too much scrutiny but there are some great singalong choruses. ‘Video Games’ is a wonderful song – slow, gentle, littered with harp arpeggios and low, sultry vocals with a weirdly compelling melody that seems to twist sinisterly in unexpected directions. ‘Diet Mountain Dew’ feels completely different – trip hop meets cheerleader with a minor key feel that sounds a lot like early Oi Va Voi. ‘National Anthem’ clearly borrows from ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ by the Verve but takes us on into a memorable chorus. Cleverly manufactured pop music.