Review Summary: Xx1980sNVRdiexX
Now I don't know about you, but I'm starting to worry that the 80s will never die. Those who might've hoped the decade would take a bow after the 2010s see a never-ending stream of nostalgia-fueled knockoffs (in music, TV, really just everything) continuing well into the 2020s. Listen, as much as I'd like to say that originality is overrated and raw talent is the only thing that matters, it's absolutely tiring to see the same synth-laden indie album come out every year and be told it's the next Robyn. Case NOT in point, Canadian-born pop artist Allie X (Alexandra Hughes) is certainly NOT the next Robyn and isn't even trying to be. While
Girl with No Face is undoubtedly inspired by everything 80s, the thrill of Hughes' approach lives and dies on how smoothly it can mix the moodiest tendencies of that decade with her modern pop sensibilities. The record is stacked with skeletal but spacious synth-goth tracks rife with icy beats and glam influences, and it starts with the very best.
"Weird World" kicks the record off in pitch-perfect style; it's a hugely danceable offering haunted by plunking post-punk guitars, complete with an anthemic chorus that condenses our uncertain times into just a few angry lines. "I live in a weird world / Yeah, it's sad but it's true / Maybe you can't see it / But you live in one too," might seem trite until you're belting them out your car window to your shitty neighbors. The title track is a different trick altogether, slowly snaking along with a funky drumbeat and sassy bass lines before fully taking off with venomous glam-inspired guitars and Hughes' towering vocal performance—which quickly stands out as a recurring highlight for the record. In fact, "Off with Her Tits" would ultimately flounder in balancing its savage satire with its deeply personal tale of body dysmorphia (let alone manage to lose itself in its delirious dancefloor antics) if it weren't for her hissing, cartwheeling, and highly animated vocal performance gluing its joyful fury together.
Even in the least exciting offerings, her voice is good company. When the album comes to a screeching halt with tired new wave offering "John and Jonathan," and when you're subjected to her most "y tho ?" impulses on awkward centerpiece "Hardware Software," it's still plain to hear that she's at least enjoying herself. In fact, on "Black Eye" her vocals are so fiery that it sounds like she's singing karaoke over the song's frozen synthesizers until the song warms up in the back half. Despite almost every song ending as a bop, it sometimes takes so long to get there that the whole LP can feel like one big mid-tempo vibe sesh, especially when leaning on its modern influences in the back half. That late-album bag of treats contains the Lana-esque "Saddest Smile," which amplifies all the album's moodiness to a nearly ridiculous degree, and "Staying Power," which combines a steady disco beat with the bad-girl-pop energy of her contemporaries into a surprisingly effective dance track that somehow belongs in a Universal monster movie.
In the end, this is a pop album, a dance album, and moment-to-moment it's fun as fuck. There's a short but absolutely charming moment on the closer "Truly Dreams" where Hughes' synthscape hazes over and begins chirping in harmony with a chorus of Allies to mimic the serenity of a tropical island, then gently phases into a western soundscape complete with a twangy guitar and chiming chords. This happens in a matter of seconds without significantly altering the song's pace, beat, or main riff, and quickly doubles back into a chorus. This tiny moment exhibits how Allie X nails these subtle contrasts in composition to play familiar elements against each other—key to any great pop artist. And while the 80s are a well-trodden playground,
Girl with No Face proves there are infinite ways to make old ideas new by contrasting them with the now.
