At first glance, Lux may look closer to a difficult scholarly challenge rather than a new popular music record by a musician whose previous single featured a global K-pop star. Divided across 4 distinct parts and performed in thirteen languages, we have a head-spinning classical-tinged work that delves into feminine mystique, religious transcendence, and physical transformation, often via the prism of different women saints. The dissolution of a romance—a topic treated with grounded openness elsewhere—is launched skyward on this record, buoyed by the lush presence of a full symphony orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter within an extensive list of contributors. The pure daring by itself renders the work of contemporary artists seem quite modest.
Transcending Academic Exercise
The fact that this album manages to avoid dry intellectual posturing is almost a miracle, with complete praise belonging to the artist. While it's not the first time project to fuse the past and the present, its scale feel far higher here, with the tightrope walk more precarious. What truly raises this fourth album, outside of its complex melodies, dense compositions, and engrained theatricality, is an essential spirit of fun. Similar to the iconic artist during her height, you find a captivating sense to the vocalist's voice that pulls you into its tornado. Even when she's tearing your heart in two, the listener still desire to be alongside her through the ride.
A Signature Example of Exuberance
That exuberant energy comes forth clearly during a stirring Italian ballad inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched whirlpool for several moments. Then, everything falls away, and there's a gleeful laugh and a declaration before a hilariously over-the-top string crescendo crashes in with cartoonish impact. The track immediately shifts into the wild single featuring galloping strings, an imposing choir, and a surprise appearance from the artist Björk.
"The magic of Lux is that the listener rarely exactly understand—or even want to know—where you will go next."
Nearly every song ends in a totally different place than where it began. A track examines the transient nature of fame over a featherlight symphony only to disintegrating into electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a song that recalls the artist's earlier trap-infused work begins off dark and sinister, with prowling beats, before sudden traditional rhythms and an angelic chorus arrive to soften its rough corners.
The Bridge Of Art and Accessibility
A key balancing act on the album involves straddling the line between radical experimentation and mainstream appeal. This is little surprise that the album has become the artist's highest-charting release to break into the upper reaches of major charts: its heart contains a suite of truly undeniable pop songs. One track sung primarily in the English language builds around a chorus that seems to collect more and more nagging melodies as it spins skyward. This feat gets echoed on another expansive ballad that grows and contracts, weaving multiple tunes like a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like song charms with its playful, theatrical flair and a chant-along chorus.
- In its words, it shares with cultural impact of contemporary breakup songs, lambasting a former lover described as an "psychological bully".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals carry a painted-on edge, akin to a storybook figure hiding a blade: "Top prize in acting like a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of disappointment."
A Maximalist Feast for the Soul
Lux is popular music on a maximalist level, an ambitious grasp for high Art in an era of looming AI-generated blankness. It eschews solipsism for sublime transcendence, crafting a dramatic drama that skillfully controls its own inherent excess. It is an abundant well of buried gems that takes patience to completely explore but doesn't feels like hard work. While some big pop albums of the year felt like feasting on meal, Lux is a sumptuous banquet at which the guests at the table, perhaps tipsy on sacred wine, flit between conversations about historical figures, the profound feeling of heartbreaking grief, and common stories about useless men. It is a contemporary musical from music's truly endlessly inventive visionary.
