After some sensational singles, alt-pop sensation Caroline Polachek drops her sophomore album, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You. Confident work, spirited rises and moving instrumental elements mark this album for the essential listen that it is. This is her island; listeners are on it whether they like it or not. Stylish placements of brilliant art-pop conviction focus on that titular desire and what it means for a continually rising star. Not just how a rise is achieved, but how to handle it once rising. Polachek is set to reap the rewards of touching, intense tracks. Asserting a style, a vocal presence and an integral shift in tone that allows her to stand out as a one-of-a-kind artist with electronic mixtures and an opening track that lends this powerhouse piece its title is just the start.
Welcome To My Island and Blood and Butter are both nicely placed in the track listing along with a Grimes and Dido-featuring piece that sees producer and frequent Polachek collaborator Danny L Harle deployed well. Key to Desire, I Want to Turn Into You is the exceptional collaborative turn of form. Significant surges that ebb just as quickly to give way to acoustics and underlying percussion. Butterfly Net is a must-listen example of that Polachek style. Pretty Impossible is a neat pairing of the individuality and immediacy of her electronic underscores. They leave room for string sections and interjections, providing an intimate area for Polachek to work strong lyrics, as she constantly does throughout. Bunny is a Rider remains an unconvincing single and relatively tame when placed between Pretty in Possible and Sunset, but that latter track provides some woeful regression, feeling more like a Flamenca track bound for Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Familia than anything else.
Still, those claps and the “safety net” Polachek sings of there are not without reason. Clear intent worked well across the album, warning listeners with Smoke that this is just the start of a volcanic eruption. Desire is the heart of Crude Drawing Of An Angel, a clear high that eases its way into the heavier electronica of I Believe, a number that would suit Pet Shop Boys. Polachek sings of little miracles and the incredulity of them. She does not lose the notion that her second album is one of those miracles. An absolute powerhouse. Between this and Pang! is a desire to push through with some riskier choices both lyrically and thematically. Tropical teases on Blood and Butter are not the focus here, but the cliff edge of a discovery that I Believe and Fly To You chart so well.
Polachek has been in the game for some time but her music is only just finding its focus. Bleeding garage electronica with some subtler acoustic tones proves powerful on Fly To You but standard on Sunset. Desire, I Want to Turn Into You has enough variety to echo out some new ideas and consider them on a couple of tracks. Abstract details wash over these lyrical moments, consistent in their tone but varied in their implication. Those early years in Japan can be felt in fleeting touches, the earlier workings of artsy-pop feel well-formed and continued on from her solo debut. Polachek considers all of her options, blurs them together with confidence and provides hints of constant electronic manipulation of her voice. Hopedrunk Everasking provides a new dawn and headspace for an artist who continually provides contemporary influence, and draws from those that collaborate with her. Polachek notes her desire, presents the style she hopes to turn and succeeds in bringing a bold freshness to alt-pop offerings.
