Pompeii

Album review

On the surface, Cate Le Bon's seemingly chill, immersive music seems like something you could put on in the background while doing chores or just relaxing. Ha. In reality, it doesn't leave you alone. It prods and pokes and forces you to engage—to marvel at her odd flourishes, deceptively complicated guitar parts and sly arrangements. She has said that Pompeii, her sixth album, was "written and recorded in a quagmire of unease." With pandemic restrictions and fog leaving her to her own devices, the singer-songwriter had plenty of time to "grapple with existence, resignation and faith." Her conclusion is pragmatic if not comforting: "The world is on fire but the bins must go out on a Tuesday night ... I put a groove behind [the unease] to hold on to. The grief is in the saxophones." In fact, Euan Hinshelwood's sax is her co-star, a supporting actor but a major presence. It can suggest agitation "Dirt on the Bed," and come on like honey on "Moderation," which sounds full and warm with its groovy, playful bass. But don't get too comfortable. This is art rock and it's provocative. The lyrics reference a 1958 essay, "The Moon"—about being less impressed by technology than art—by Brazilian modernist architect Lina Bo Bardi, who magically found ways to make hard lines and "cold" materials exceedingly human-friendly. "I can't have it/ I don't want it/ I want to touch it," Le Bon sings, skating beautifully along the contradiction of all-consuming appetite and decorum. It's a push-pull that seems embedded in her: Le Bon hails from Wales but lives in Joshua Tree, two distinctly weird, remote and mythic locales where outsiderism is worn like a badge of honor. "Pompeii" unfurls with distorted carnival music, like a carousel out of tune, foreboding in the background even as the vocal melody is reassuring: Le Bon's voice effortlessly slides up and down scales, a quick shape-shifter in the vein of Bowie. In fact, "French Boys" feels like it could have been a cut from his moody, slinky Let's Dance era. "Harbour," meanwhile, has a different '80s vibe, its synth pop and grounded ethereality recalling Kate Bush or Tracey Thorn. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz