Album Review: arrange - New Memory

arrange
New Memory
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

On 2011's Plantation, arrange, the moniker of teenager Malcom Lacey, tapped into something idiosyncratic and new, merging the confessional singer/songwriter with bedroom pop/chillwave into a sound that was as distinctive as it was brutally honest. In my review, I noted that listening to the album was "akin to rummaging around a stuffed attic, coming across old photo albums, journals, and keepsakes, being washed over by the floods of memory: the triumphs and failures, the joy and sadness, the important and the mundane." On his latest full-length New Memory, there is still that feeling of sifting through the contents of Lacey's mind, but in place of Plantation's diffuse impressionism, there is a slight change to the more direct, at least lyrically. But this being arrange, the songs are all about dealing with family, domestic dramas, and the search for one's place in the world. While the songs don't stand out as freely as tracks like "Tiny Little Boy," "Veins," or "Medicine Man," as a whole, there is a more cohesive production that binds the songs together.

Starting off with the lovely piano ballad "Ivory Pt. 1," a tender plea to a parent to not give up, singing "everything I'd ever known/Won't cast doubt on these hands that hold me."



The haunting track "Caves" mixes piano and ambient electronics over skeletal drum programming, Lacey's voice open and raw. Lyrics like "My hands are porous things filled up by anything/They know the way to go but haven't had the chance to show them," reveal a wounded self doubt.



Within this tracks is always a search, for reconciliation, for forgiveness, or just for peace. The delicate electronics of "Where I Go At Night" underpin Lacey's search for a mother to help and also find some help for his own sadness,



in "North" he sings of his search for his true self, "I won't become myself undone/I've learned that I'm important to someone,"



and in the gorgeous "When We Saw," Lacey relies on his family for peace in the wake of doubt, "Always there to help me find a way to never lay near/Or give life to the hate I keep within."

While New Memory is a really good record, there is always the nagging notion in the back of my head that Lacey just didn't quite push himself farther on this record. Not that it is a carbon copy of Plantation, it just has a similar sonic impact, but without the distinction of having standout singles like the aforementioned ones. New Memory is an interesting holding pattern, but one I would like to see him transcend in the future.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.

Arrange: Plantation

Arrange
Plantation
Rating: Woof Daddy

The experience of listening to Plantation, the self-released debut album from Florida teenager Malcom Lacey, is akin to rummaging around a stuffed attic, coming across old photo albums, journals, and keepsakes, being washed over by the floods of memory: the triumphs and failures, the joy and sadness, the important and the mundane. It is also an album steeped in loneliness and sadness, Lacey's voice almost a monotone, afraid to let the emotion crack the surface, less the anger break free and overtake him. The restraint fits well with these gorgeously evocative ten tracks. Despite his youth, Lacey has an amazing ear for arrangement (no pun intended) and builds these songs in layers, never adding too much or making things too bare. Plantation is truly an album that must be experienced in one sitting, as the themes and melodies flow throughout the record and with each listen, you pick up more and more, it all fitting together like pieces of a puzzle.

The songs are not overly complicated or fussy, opening instrumental "In Old Theaters" builds off low electronic horns into expansive drums and piano, which seemed to be a natural flow from Lacey's earlier, more drone-inspired EPs. This leads into one of the standout singles on the album, "Tiny Little Boy," featuring booming drum programming, shimmering guitars and piano, and lyrics capturing the nervousness of youth.



Of the vocal based tracks, my favorite leans towards "Veins." His voice, so hushed and internal, is almost taken over by the ambient washes of synths, the music taking over the emotional weight of the track.



In "Medicine Man" the narrator, always taken advantage of, turns increasingly ambivalent until the end, where he lashes out at those hurting him, the music turning into a blur of electronic noise.

Arrange, Medicine Man by Daniyrselfclean

Another favorite track, is the plaintive ballad "Turnpike." Lacey's morose voice over a simple piano melody, surrounded by washes of keyboards, evoking the overwhelming nature of being young with too many possibilities in front of you.



"When'd You Find Me?" is perhaps the emotional centerpiece of the record, the sounds blooming from ambient soundscapes to almost post-dubstep fury. The narrator overcome with emotion over a failed relationship, almost unable to function, spewing lines like:

“Goddamn these thoughts
Goddamn these people that remind me of you
Goddamn these heart attacks, every single one of them I wish you’d go through
I’ve been told it’s good for me to cry, but I can’t
The thought doesn’t register.”



Although he is only a teenager, Lacey's lyrics, which could easily have come across as mere navel-gazing journal entries, are quite complex without being cryptic, and have a lovely, universal quality. You get the sense of a good writer at the stage of turning into a great writer. From the tender ache of wanting to grow up to fast on "Tearing Up Old Asphalt," to the haunting refrain of "Burning away/I’ve been burning away/Half of the day has been spent just burning away” on the lovely "Turnpike."

Plantation is so fully formed and beautifully executed it is amazing someone as young as Lacey put this all together in his bedroom. As I was mentioning in my review of the new WU LYF album, there has been a seismic shift recently with young artists and bands really focusing on their songcraft and not worrying about sales or public opinion. When artists concentrate on making great music that is personal to them, the fans will be there. For one, I am excited about where music is heading, and if artists as diverse as Arrange, Iceage, Wild Beasts, Shabazz Palaces, and WU LYF are out there, things are only going to get better. I cannot recommend this album too highly; it is truly one of the best albums of the year, and can be downloaded for free (or you can pay for a physical copy) at Arrange's bandcamp page, here.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.