Beabadoobee - Pylon
Beabadoobee’s fourth studio album is the best of her career. It’s honest, raw, eclectic, and yet never content to stand still.
Throughout the 2020s, Beabadoobee has been one of the most visible artists on the indie scene: her songs kept going viral on TikTok, the internet was flooded with memes about her impossible-to-pronounce name, and musicians of all calibers showed her plenty of respect. The singer herself, meanwhile, refused to stay in one place, reinventing her approach to sound with every album. Her discography contains excursions into a wide range of genres, from tender bossa nova to dreamy indie rock. Her fourth record, Pylon, gravitates toward the heavier textures of midwest emo and grunge, while still leaving room for the sounds listeners have come to associate with her.
Take the opening track, “Pylon” — a tender, romantic ballad in which the artist suggests that love can be found everywhere. By the halfway point, the song grows heavier, hinting at Beabadoobee’s transformation toward a rawer, more abrasive sound. Lead single “Sun Has Set”, one of the album’s most aggressive cuts, is a mind-blowing tribute to ’90s grunge rock, with Bea sounding angrier and more defiant than ever. “Estranged”, by contrast, channels that righteous fury into dreamier territory: it’s a candid song about the fear of intimacy and the realization that fully opening yourself up to another person takes time.
Meanwhile, the trip-hop-inspired “Switchblade” pushes the artist even deeper into the sonic world of the ’90s, even if the first few listens can feel somewhat awkward. It’s by no means a bad song, but compared with the rest of the album, it feels like it never quite gets the chance to develop. “It’s Alright”, on the other hand, has everything it takes to become a perfect coming-of-age movie soundtrack: it’s light yet instantly memorable, with a hook that lodges itself in your head from the very first listen. Many of these tracks feel tailor-made for the autumn and winter months. The songs on Pylon carry a distinctly cool, distant quality thanks to their weightier sound, but Beabadoobee’s airy, delicate voice brings a special kind of warmth to them, like a scarf wrapped around you in bad weather. Take “Radio”, for instance, which bassline could practically knock down a house. “You’ll listen to this song on the radio”, she sings with such effortless charm that it feels as though she’s flirting directly with you.
The album’s lyrical content is just as affecting. On the skull-rattling “In Motion”, Beabadoobee explores mental well-being and the way we perceive the world around us. Here, she practically tears her voice apart — you’re unlikely to have heard this much desperation in her singing before. One of the most overtly “pop” songs on Pylon, “Memories”, is also one of the most beautiful love songs in her entire catalogue. Her voice seems to float above shimmering guitars, steady drums, and a lively bassline. If you fell in love with Beabadoobee’s music through “Glue Song” or “Beaches”, this one is unlikely to disappoint. The emotions across the record range from utter confusion to almost unfathomable self-assurance, and that emotional volatility is precisely what makes Bea’s songwriting so distinctive.
Beabadoobee is joined by an eclectic cast of collaborators throughout Pylon. On the pop-leaning “Write Me a Letter”, you can just about make out backing vocals from The 1975’s Matty Healy. “Nothing to Prove” gets its rebellious spirit from Paramore’s Hayley Williams, who injects an unmistakable riot grrrl energy into an already impeccable track, while Turnstile frontman Brendan Yates lends a hand on the dreamy “Powerlines”. But the album’s biggest star turn comes from Deftones’ Chino Moreno, who appears on “Satellite”, one of the record’s strongest and most powerful moments. Beabadoobee’s vocals sound especially raw and alive here, while Moreno’s contribution sends the whole song into orbit. “I’m split in two, sing to the moon, orbiting you / Like a satellite”, they sing, and your heart splits right down the middle.
On Pylon, Beabadoobee is no longer afraid to express every emotion that troubles her. She doesn’t worry about being misunderstood, or about her words coming across as too blunt or tactless. This is a carefully considered album built around a singular aesthetic that works remarkably well from beginning to end. We all fell in love with Beabadoobee for her somewhat childish tenderness and naivety, but her fourth studio album proves that she feels most confident when she turns the filter off.
8.1/10
