Review - 'Older' by Lizzy McAlpine

Musical quality of the album aside, there are questions to be asked of Lizzy McAlpine’s promotional strategy for her third album, Older. The title track was designated as lead single and pushed via a performance on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show but was a distinctly unexciting piano ballad. What’s more, follow up single Like It Tends To Do was even sleepier, McAlpine’s mumbled singing becoming almost inaudible in places. At the time, McAlpine talked about wanting to show “the rawest and most honest version of me,” and it was easy to conclude that a mellow, introspective record was in store. A certain Taylor Swift hogging the airwaves a few weeks after Older’s release can’t have helped streaming numbers either.

The good news is that Older is far from boring. The first surprise of many comes in the deft drum fill that opens All Falls Down, a charming, woodwind-filled pop track with a pivot towards rock in the final third that mimics last album’s firearm, except this time the switch is executed with much more skilful nuance. Then there’s the cinematic finish to I Guess, which recalls the Gen Z melodrama epitomised by Phoebe Bridgers’ classic Scott Street, although McAlpine’s plodding groove doesn’t get the waterworks flowing quite like Bridgers does.

Surprise showpiece moments aside, Older also works as a thoughtful meditation on a relationship where the love has simply run out. “What if it was all my fault?” McAlpine ponders with a stunning melodic flourish in Drunk, Running, an exquisitely pained ballad that flowers into extended orchestral outro. There’s more of that complicated feeling of guilt to be traced in You Forced Me To, a daring and vaguely creepy waltz in which McAlpine gives way haunting muffled piano solo. The biggest emotional sucker punch is reserved for March, which sees her powerfully reflect on her father’s passing (“So far away, and then it hits you / Like it was yesterday”).

In the end, it’s the singles that turn out to be Older’s weakest moments. Any listeners not put off by those teasers or not distracted by Ms. Swift will find a mature, impactful record packed with welcome surprises.