Review Summary: Come find me in discomfort.
Lucy Rose has been on a hell of a journey in the last few years. After releasing her previous album, 2019’s No Words Left, she took what must have been intended as a relatively short break to have her first child - and ended up dealing with severe medical issues (and general medical incompetence) that up-ended her whole world as a result. Given this backdrop, you could have well expected a follow-up to be a rerun of that record’s more mature and considered approach to the hackneyed-but-nonetheless-heartfelt indie folk she made her name with, burrowing further down into a pit of melancholy and occasionally bitter introspection. Instead, This Ain’t the Way You Go Out, as the name implies, is vibrant, rebellious and triumphant.
This is thanks in no small part to the veritable army of talent behind the scenes, not least in-demand producer Kwes, whose flourishes honed in the world of alternative R&B with the likes of Kelela, Sampha and Solange are visible throughout. Indeed, much of this record feels like being enshrouded in a velvet curtain of sound, free-flowing and effortlessly soft to the touch. Beautiful production aside though (and it is excellent), both the performances and songs themselves here are easily a career high point for Lucy. From the brittle, tear-jerking piano affirmations of Whatever You Want, to the soulful jazzy breakbeat of Could You Help Me, to the upbeat sophisti-pop of Over When It’s Over, This Ain’t the Way… covers a significant amount of styles in it’s 36-minute runtime without ever feeling stretched for the sake of it. Highlight and closer The Racket perhaps demonstrates this best of all, mashing heavy psychedelic textures with a groovy jazz bassline and snappy piano chords that illustrate a new, contagiously energetic side to her that comes across so naturally you wonder where it’s been hiding all these years.
It’s a shame that an album this good had to come from such a wonderful but painful (quite literally) situation to be in. Whilst lyrically the record is centred around these circumstances, Lucy’s journey is so beautifully summed up in the opening lines of Whatever You Want that it almost feels too perfect to not pick it out as a key moment.
“A miracle, a disaster, all in one fell swoop”.
But despite that personal disaster, it’s the miracle that shines brightest throughout This Ain’t the Way You Go Out, a determination to come out the other side bigger, stronger and more confident than ever before. And in doing so, Lucy Rose has produced what is easily the highlight of her career so far.
