CD of The Week

Even though Beabadoobee (real name: Beatrice Laus) is now on her fourth full-length album (she has five EPs as well) with Pylon, she has still yet to reach her 27th birthday. If 2024’s This is How Tomorrow Moves continued her commercial ascent (her first chart-topping album in the UK) with a cleaner, more accessible sound, her newest effort is a return to a rawer, louder territory that makes sense for someone still transitioning into adulthood. Collaborating with a rolodex full of angsty influences (Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Deftones’ Chino Moreno, Turnstile’s Brendan Yates), Pylon is Bebadoobee’s most vulnerable yet and could be classified accurately as an emo album. It is also her most artistically rewarding, with powerful, fuzzy riffs and lyrical depth evident throughout the 14 tracks.

The first single, “Sun Has Set,” makes an immediate impact with a crunchy, propulsive arrangement and confident, kiss-off lyrics that mock an ex as “scared of rejection / lacking direction.” That’s one of the only songs that begins at full volume, but many others get there through a buildup of intensity, including “Write Me A Letter,” which opens deceivingly as a mid-tempo pop tune before getting progressively heavier as the narrator craves a day where she can say her feelings out loud instead of just on paper. “Estranged” is another hooky highlight with a quiet-loud-quiet structure that effectively fits the uncertainty in the lyrics.

Meanwhile, “Switchblade” is the darkest track in Beabadoobee’s entire catalog, with atmospheric, alt-metal sonic elements and Laus adding some menace to her normally sweet voice as she sings “I’m a switchblade cutting through an empty space / need a reminder, you start to feel like a graze.” Closer “Satellite” is a haunting ballad about loneliness and confusion that crystalizes many of the themes of the album while shaving away the distortion and noise. If there’s a flaw on the album, it’s that a few of the tracks featuring guest stars seem a bit underbaked, and Williams’ and Yates’ vocals are too far in the background on “Nothing to Prove” and “Powerlines,” respectively.

Despite her steady rise, Beabadoobee has not become stuck in a single mode or sound, and Pylon continues to prove that she can write quality songs about a variety of personal topics across genres. Her authenticity and melodicism stand out even as the album frequently goes to far heavier territory than such hits as “The Way Things Go” and “Beaches.”

Beabadoobee is about to embark on her biggest US headlining tour yet, and she performs at the Liacouras Center at Temple University on Friday, October 2nd.