On her debut album, the 23-year-old openly details an emotionally devastating break-up – and finally starts to find her
If Eloise hadn’t made an EP like ‘This Thing Called Living’ in 2019, someone else would have. The London-born, Normandy-raised artist – known anonymously by her first name – began her career invisibly popularizing chill-pop for cafe playlists and video montages of summer memories was mature His initial material floated like dust in the sun; The tracks were bright, airy, and beautiful, but felt effortless, and could easily get lost in the background.
As a loose concept record about the many subtleties of love and distance, ‘Drunk on a Flight’, Eloise’s long-awaited debut album, is more than a corrective action: it’s a showcase of the quietly subversive details she’s worked on over the past few years. Has gradually honed over the years. , Even if the aura of her songs still leans toward lo-fi—similar to the sprawling production of Washed Out or Toro y Moi—her debut album takes a conscious step forward, especially lyrically. It strips away its predecessor’s generalizations on growing up and replaces it with sharp details born of personal experience.
Much of the album has a tight, inward focus: it’s largely about walking the line between thrill and terror to get what you want. Eloise has stated that the title track was inspired by a time she was on a long-haul flight hours after a break-up; As she sings about drinking too much wine on the plane as well as getting over her previous relationship, you can see her staring out the window with her eyes wide open, ready to experience something new. Unable to stand in front of this guy and enjoy the thrill of buzzing him, unlimited glasses of Sauvignon Blanc will have to do.
There has been an overabundance of self-determination in pop from young, breaking artists in recent years – you only have to turn to Dylan’s 2022 ‘No Romeo’ EP or Cat Burns’ smash hit ‘Go’ – but Eloise’s approach is particularly Is intense and ruthless. “I’m sorry if my lack of empathy hurts you,” she sings on ‘Therapist’; “I hope it rains on you,” she tells a flaky ex on “Giant Feelings.” She’s a fiercely forthright songwriter, viewing each song as an opportunity for growth, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. His writing has the potential to strike a personal chord with anyone who has ever managed to overcome a narcissist.
The arrangements are often just as characterful, and Eloise’s efforts to gently push her voice out are admirable and promising. There’s an unsettling hint of bitterness in the distorted layers of ‘Take It Back’, while ‘Vanilla Tobacco’ is full of record-breaking moments. They may be far from revolutionary, but the fullness of Eloise’s new vision pulsates in these tender details. In ‘Drunk on a Flight’, she defies all previous expectations of her music and demands a better one from herself.
Details
- Release date: April 14
- Record label: AWAL
