Surrender

Maggie Rogers

explicit

Released on 7/29/22 by Capitol Records
Main artists: Maggie Rogers
Genre: Alternative & Indie

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On her 2019 debut, Maggie Rogers offered a gust of fresh air—folky tendencies paired with crisp dance-oriented beats; her voice remarkably pure and clean. That's all still true on her second record, but this also feels like an untethering; less earthbound, it's the sound of taking off and not caring about conventions. Since Heard It in a Past Life, Rogers earned a master's degree from Harvard Divinity School, studying, in part, the "ethics of power in pop culture," as she has tweeted. She announced the release of Surrender with a poem that included the lines: "For a long time I fought it. Resisted. Held up my fists. Tried to hold the current. Foolish. I found peace in distortion. A chaos I could control." She's also described the album as sounding like "feral joy," all of which offers clues as to where she's at right now. (Read what you will into the liberation symbolism of Rogers cropping her long, schoolgirl hair into a gamine cut, à la Felicity star Keri Russell in 1999.) On the acoustic, single-take "Horses"—which evokes Joni Mitchell and cottagecore Taylor Swift but could also make a great country song—Rogers sings, "I see horses running wild, I wish/ I could feel like that for just a minute." Her voice cracks into a different stratosphere with the line "It's not worth it." "Honey," meanwhile, could be a '90s Alanis Morissette treasure. It's a real rock song, at once bottom heavy and soaring, and musically adventurous, with keys that travel to unexpected places and a sort of enchantment to the vocal melody. "That's Where I Am" goes from glitchy time signatures to a heavenly chorus, with Rogers all the while shadowed by what sounds like the deep voice of a giant. She tries on a totally different guise for "Shatter"—driving, synthy, new wave—experimenting with wild vocal gymnastics and obviously having fun even as she breathlessly sings, "I'm scared, I'm scared, I'm scared." Florence Welch plays tambourine and lends backing vocals to that one, and there are echoes of both Florence and the Machine and Annie Lennox on the big, festival-ready "Want Want," with its excellent rumble-strip of bass. Spacey keys and growling, fuzzed-out low end concoct a musical chaos on "Symphony," but Rogers—her voice like a morning bell—keeps it calm; "There's a symphony/ Going on inside my head," she sings, proving she knows how to conduct it. She also sounds clear as a stream on "I've Got a Friend," with its tinkling cafe piano and conversational background murmur. And closer "Different Kind of World" goes from wispy and gentle, almost trembling, to a glorious kick-in of crashing cymbals and that aforementioned feral quality, then quiets again: "I'm a different kind of girl," Rogers sings. Thank goodness. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

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Surrender

Maggie Rogers

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