Lorde Returns with a Primal Scream for Summer
Lorde’s return has captured the crazed excitement of fans, still processing her last album Melodrama, produced by Jack Antonoff. The dynamic duo return with a summer anthem, ‘Solar Power’.
The song features some iconic sliding melodies that just entice you to swing your hips and nod your head. The intro features that chugging strum of acoustic guitar, with doubled, harmonized vocals. There are beautiful liquidized transitions in between verses that really place you on the beach, even if you are sat in your garden on a broken deck chair.
On the conception of the song, Lorde explained to Zane Lowe that it wasn’t until afterward that the Primal Scream similarity was recognized and that the song was created organically. That’s the beauty of music history, it’s ability to reappear amidst the most unlikely of vessels. Lorde articulates it so well, calling Primal Scream, the ‘spiritual forebears of the song’.
The Primal Scream element is not an alien presence on a Lorde track, as they have experimented with blues and psychedelic sounds throughout their rock sonic origins. Lorde is no stranger to production experimentation and genre exploration, so this subconscious inspiration makes sense.
Phoebe Bridgers and Clairo feature as background vocalists on the song. It’s the first time Lorde has had any vocals, other than her own feature on one of her songs, I think this a great move for her comeback, Lorde is an artist whose trajectory is still unpredictable and always exciting
Their voices work softly and beautifully with eachother. It creates a real feminine energy, complimenting the lyrical mother-nature vibe.
”I made something that encapsulates where I’m from — my family, my girlfriends, my outdoors, my constant ruminations, and my unending search for the divine”.
I’m definitely excited to digest the whole album upon its release, which is said to be at some point later this year!