Review Summary: Glimpsing the light at the end of the tunnel
The matter of seperation of art from its artist has nowadays taken the form of an unconquerably complex chain of arguments, while at the end of the day the problem usually comes down to personal disposition. You can rarely choose to beget or ignore an uncomfortable itch tainting one or the other particular expression of human creativity that, in most cases coincidentally, was made by a person acting in ways you cannot condone. Leaving all this by the wayside, let it be said that I am usually in favour of art over artists, as in letting a practice that is an expression of the creative potential inherent to us and the universe run free of overtly judgemental attention concerning issues not directly dependant on the art being presented.
When Melanie Martinez was well on the way to unavoidable world fame, she was struck by media attention concerning a potential sexual assault she had committed. Without elaborating on the social circumstances that then rapidly proceeded to try to end her career, let me say this: I cannot abide by the dichotomy of either now hating her and her music unjustly, or defending her innocence (that an ordinary outside prospector could never confirm or deny anyway). Still, I lost sight of her musical output, and while occasionally tuning into single releases for K-12, I could not sustain any permanent interest. When PORTALS was suggested to me on an innocuous Saturday while getting ready to work in the garden, I only gave it a shot to confirm the suspicion of the downfall of an artist that might make an interesting case study for the interaction of social stresses and creative output. Needless to say, I was positively surprised and listened to the whole thing from start to finish. Martinez' work has always been codified in the language of a particular theme and connected soundscape, her debut and sophomore both being official concept albums, but this is the first time I really got a sense of useful cohesion off her, with a red string being woven that is neither overbearing nor unnoticable. The topics are plently, as is divergence, but the general idea of a Life and Death cycle combined with lush strings and vast landscapes of golden shimmer and ominous foreboding really cuts an enthralling contrast to previous albums.
Not every single track works out, sometimes due to slow pacing or structures that are too repetitive, but only a few songs cross over into slight boredom, never contempt. Generally the writing and the production are engaging and sometimes catchy, toeing the fine line between very accessible music and some more experimental cuts (though nothing would overtly qualify for that outside of the relative bounds of her preferred genre). A good example of the former would be the structurally sound EVIL that details the contentedly reached end of a toxic relationship and the rejection of judment for it by that person; the latter is well expressed by the eclectic MOON CYCLE that reaches for unconventional instrumentation and dynamics to switch things up. While the energy diminishes in the second half of the album, Martinez' nuanced vocal delivery combined with her unconventional lyricism keep the experince from coming to a total halt. Little tidbits of metaphor and intonation make everything interesting enough to at least listen to once, and, very noticably, much of her more eccentric language has been upgraded in nuance since her debut which had sometimes featured expressions that were considered overdone and borderline embarassing by many.
I think this metamorphosis I barely witnessed to be delightful, to say the least. With PORTALS, Martinez has put forward an effort full of promise and detail that is hopefully a signifier of evolution into a direction that I find not only subjectively more compelling, but that also adds much more objective value in both writing and production. Keeping your head above the waters of social causality is a difficult task, and the interwovenness of the world cannot be denied. There is no way to entirely seperate the two deeply connected ideas of art and artist. Yet, that should not stop us from employing critical analysis in an area where some might deem emotion the primary currency.
Track recommendations:
DEATH
VOID
LIGHT SHOWER
MOON CYCLE
MILK OF THE SIREN (That one is only on the deluxe version for some reason, it's great)
