Declan McKenna enters his third sonic era with the eclectic album, What Happened to the Beach?
The success of 2020’s Zeros was a triumph for the singer-songwriter, but this of course means that any new body of work would enter the world with immediately high expectations. Yet, comparing it to any of McKenna’s previous works doesn't seem fair amidst a complete tonal-shift that is not only musical, but lyrical too (favouring introspection over previously spotlighting weighty societal and political themes). Having also shed the glam rock tones adopted for Zeros, the new album is eccentric, vibrant and endearingly clunky.
What Happened to the Beach? Is the titular question, and the opening line to the opening track, Wobble, where playful vocal melodies sit atop scratchy acoustic guitar plucks. Immediately, the die is cast for McKenna’s new musical direction, but the sun is shining and the track is full of gentle promise. Elevator Hum follows and is an early album highlight. It’s bursting with radio fuzz and continues the hopeful tone cast from the outset: an almost psychedelic track with similarities to the work of Still Woozy and Mac Demarco. We hear humming synths and gentle harmonies that highlight a more delicate end of an overall rugged production style throughout the album (co-produced with Gianluca Buccellati - Lana Del Rey, Arlo Parks, Biig Piig).
McKenna’s versatility and chameleon-like genre play come alive at several points throughout the album, but I Write the News is a prime example. The track features chic semi-spoken vocals atop folky, 60s-style guitar. Some of the jauntiest angles of the album reveal themselves in lead single Sympathy, especially as it descends into a brassy and chaotic outro. Mulholland’s Dinner and Wine swoops in to meet it with undertones of psychedelic bedroom pop. What Happened to the Beach? was recorded in LA, and as such, some of the city’s absurdities are explored lyrically here.
Breath of Light is a breath of fresh air, with hypnotic, pitch-shifted vocoder segments adding a playful dimension to its sunny outro. An all-too-common tale of label frustration wrapped in glowy upbeat pop comprises Nothing Works. This track was the second single to anticipate the album, with festival debuts last summer cementing it as a punchy crowd-pleaser. Here, the tone is set for the raucous intro to The Phantom Buzz (Kick In): a rockier journey through stoned euphoria. The rhythm guitar is undeniably catchy and it’s easy to imagine as another festival banger. If that track is the high, Honest Test follows with the low. It’s another hazy, stoner track which really doesn’t offer much of substance, but it’s pleasant enough for those slow summer afternoons.
Mezzanine brings all the funk of the album, carrying a fierce bass groove and an irresistible urge to sing along. It’s certainly another album highlight, and a buoyant endeavour that deserves to be on loop for at least a little while. Thus far, What Happened to the Beach? has been relatively joyful, with darker reflective themes buried in optimistic melody. It’s an Act deprives us of the cheery instrumental and cuts straight to themes of deception and love lost. The brass-led outro is suitably melancholic, and contrasts the use of similar instrumentation much earlier in the album on Sympathy. 4 More Years waves a sorry goodbye to the album, in hazy echoes, before a playful fourth-wall-breaking line, “it’d be a cool end to-“ rounds things up. A glimmer of the McKenna we’ve always known and loved comes out in tongue-in-cheek moments like this.
What Happened to the Beach? is a self-assured exploration of new genres, and yet another confirmation of Declan McKenna’s transformative abilities. Smooth, easy breezy melodies repeatedly collide with rugged production, in a consolidation of rock, psychedelia and jangle pop. Whatever happened to the beach, and whatever you think of the album, we can be sure that McKenna will continue to surprise us with every release.
'WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BEACH?'
TO BE RELEASED ON 9 FEBRUARY 2024
