Train on the Island by Aldous Harding

New Zealand’s Aldous Harding has released 5 albums, ranging from traditional English folk on her 2014 self-titled debut to more of a sparse, subdued alt folk blended with psychadelic pop sound starting on her 2017 album Party and continuing to 2019’s Designer and 2022’s Warm Chris. With each album, you can hear her confidence grow – songwriting, lyrics, vocals. Train on the Island is just a continuation of all that and it’s sure to stand with any of her previous, well-regarded albums. I’d also wager it will be considered her best and most complete work to date.

Beyond being a well-regarded songwriter, she is known for her performances where she channels the characters and voices she creates for each song, becoming almost possessed by the music. It’s mesmerizing. I’ve included a few older performances below to give you a feel.

Back to Train on the Island, The Guardian has a pretty solid review of the new album with this highlight:

The most striking thing about said songs isn’t their weirdness, but how tightly written, compact and, in their own understated way, punchy they are. Even the longest thing here, the title track that tips over five minutes, never shades into indulgence. The songs that feel episodic never ramble, but deal in impressively acute, stimulating contrasts – as when One Stop and San Francisco move unexpectedly from a hypnotic piano figure and clouds of electric piano respectively into the same, noticeably brighter-hued acoustic guitar-backed refrain. If you aren’t among those listeners inclined to take notes and unravel the lyrics for clues, they work simply as conduits for utterly lovely melodies: the key-shifting Coats, or the sparkling duet between Harding and Evans on Venus in the Zinnia, or the tune that snaps What Am I Gonna Do? into sharp focus. As the heavy-lidded Worms makes its slow but sweet progress, it’s hard to imagine even the most vociferous naysayer of Harding’s oddball approach not being at least a little won over.

I’m won over for sure. I wasn’t a huge fan before this album, but the songwriting and bright sound is such a relief and change of pace for me, I absolutely love this album and expect it to be on my list of favorites for the year.