Of all the influences Faye Webster has at her disposal, it is relatively charming to hear the bluegrass tones softly puncturing the soft rock styles in Underdressed at the Symphony. For those only taking note of Webster this may be the place to start – diving in blind and feeling won over by the broad blue strokes on the album cover and a bold six-minute opener which pushes off the potential fatigue of repetition with slow burning potential. Underdressed at the Symphony is an exploration of Webster’s writing so far. Pairing it with new instrumentals and familiar topics blurs the line between comfort and danger, as all these experiences do on their own. Recounted for listeners, returning and new, these old memories are brought back to life with staggering and sudden interjections.
How else to follow up the openness and length of Thinking About You than with piano strokes broken up by metallic clangs? But Not Kiss has the pure and unformed lust pulsing through it and keeps steady with its preceding track. There is a floaty and comfortable appeal to these tracks. How they bleed together and unfold, the silence between and even the tonal changes not enough to disrupt the consistency, not initially, anyway. Those same But Not Kiss piano strokes are replicated for the Lil Yachty-featuring Lego Ring, a fine track but an indifferent addition to Underdressed at the Symphony. It rips away the lounge aesthetic and brings on a state of degradation. Yachty has proven himself the multitalented instrumentalist with last year’s Let’s Start Here but the vocal manipulation paired with the Webster lyrics here feels out of step. Nothing too terrible, though. It does not derail the wider album it just juts out of place like tripping over the side of a table slightly moved off-centre.
Webster is keen to try her hand at those same vocal manipulations though her attempt on Feeling Good Today is way off the mark. It rips away from those comfortable, dependable tones which resurface on Lifetime. It is Webster being unconvinced by the solid structure of a chamber-like experience and instead hoping to tip her listeners into a flurry. Where it may work as a shock to the system it does not quite grasp the fundamentals of a constant message. Instead, the jittery introduction of an electronic reliance only for it to be pulled away is more an act of confusion than anything. Lifetime continues, a lengthy piece which tries to connect back to Wanna Quit All the Time but cannot muster an overwhelming change. We have heard what Webster can do and the shock of a Yachty feature cannot be brushed over as suddenly as it is here. Especially not when we are sent off to He Loves Me Yeah!, a vapid recollection of lost love. Those pronunciations of “perfect” and the repetition of loving their “baby” are tinged in a creepy and immature notion.
But it is back to the shining basics on eBay Purchase History, as indie a title can get without nabbing the spotlight from a title track which feels underwhelming after the change in tempo. Webster returns to the comfort of a sound she sounded like briefly breaking away from for good. Underdressed at the Symphony is still a solid work – soft and enjoyable, occasionally calling to attention lacklustre attempts at digging a niche of its own. Orchestral nerves on the title track are weightless, with no tone beyond a relatively plain projection of heartbreak. Tttttime provides the flutes and baroque nature of an album which hopes to flow evenly yet breaches the calm waters with shocking displays of what Webster is capable of beyond her bluegrass-informed genre stylings. It doesn’t sink the boat but certainly rocks it enough to expect big changes, but those never come through the latter half of an ultimately solid, stable record.
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