Harry Styles – Aperture Review

What a luxury it must be to take a four-year break to star alongside Florence Pugh in an awful film. It’s not all bad for Harry Styles, he is the next David Bowie after all, apparently. He is in a way, to his credit, like the Life on Mars songwriter. Styles knows better than most that all mediums, be it on a reality television show or in movies where his talent is overshadowed by poor scriptwriting, are worthy. But he’s also a follower of the times, too, as evidenced by Aperture, the lead single from his upcoming album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. He has read the room. It was almost inevitable that some form of disco ball and overcast sky would form the front of his latest album. Styles is a man of obvious contrasts, but it serves his songwriting well enough; there are no qualms about that or the intention there. Aperture is not a break from his usual tone because what Styles often offers reflects the popular times, rather than evolving them.  

We need those artists around, though, because it in turn pushes those who innovated the first time around to push on again. Styles, too, comes out of this well. Aperture is fine enough work from a songwriter whose greatest efforts are still going to be stuck in the pop circle unless he wildly changes gears. He won’t, though, it’s better to cosplay in genres than live them honestly. But what a victory Aperture is for Styles return, a four-year break from new music gives listeners time to feel hungry for more. A year-long sabbatical, it would seem, from being present in the public eye is a tactic used by the best. To have a body of work that stands out in your absence is crucial, it’s a great victory for Styles. A new instrumental tone from Styles is not the only evolution he makes for his sound here.  

Crucial to his sound is this soft but sincere adaptation to electronic tones. He sounds obsessed with the beauty of dissonance, the occasional piano note floated through or the odd whirring, electronic sound which will no doubt draw some comparisons to LCD Soundsystem. But it’s not quite that level of self-loathing, though it shows no sign of being a pop fodder track, either. Styles has done extremely well to break from the impression many may have on him. This is a bona fide song, albeit one with the usual hang-ups of message and tone being expected. All the same, it’s a strong offering. It may take time to warm to, but there’s plenty earnest to Aperture. A slow instrumental build may feel inevitable for where pop tracks are at this moment, but to lead an album with a five-minute song reflecting on relationships, inevitable that message may be, is a bold choice.  

Releasing this the same day as ex-One Direction bandmate Louis Tomlinson’s How Did I Get Here? means at least one member of the boy band is putting out a quality piece of work this month. Somebody had to. Styles stands tall as a pop voice worth hearing once again, and while he appears comfortable to keep plugging away at the standard he set with Harry’s House, change is in the air. A tepid step into a new sound is better than no step at all, and Styles sounds comfortable working with new material. Aperture is a next step song, a very good one at that. Whether the rest of Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally is bold enough to continue this tone, to really experiment it, we’ll see. For now though, it’s great to hear a leading pop voice try to break through the noise with something new to the wider genre, though this sound has been around for some time.