RC f/u Pt. 19: Spanish Love Songs, Andrew Bird, Olivia Rodrigo

As soon as I clicked "publish" on the last one of these, the National announced that they were surprise releasing a new album. I think that this means I can manifest any album into existence by any RC alumnus by reverse-jinxing it here. What should I do next? Fishmans? McGruff the Crime Dog? Maybe Connie Converse reappears and drops a new trip hop album? The sky is the limit if we just believe.

No Joy by Spanish Love Songs

Released: August 25, 2023

Follow-up to: Brave Faces Everyone, Week 58

I'll be honest, I don't really know what I'm looking for when I review these follow-up RC albums. I guess the criteria changes from artist to artist—for some, I'm looking for improvement, and for others, I'm looking for something new. For a band like Spanish Love Songs, whose album Brave Faces Everyone I really liked and still play all the time, I guess I'm looking for some of that goodwill to carry through into the new album.

So if you're asking me whether SLS are doing anything new with No Joy, the answer is absolutely not. This is still the same hard-rocking existential-sadness-cosplay sound that we heard back in 2020. But if you're asking me whether this is a bad thing, the fact that this band has not grown at all, then I'd admit that I don't really know. I wanted more Spanish Love Songs, and I certainly got it.

If I squint, I can maybe see some slightly new flourishes. I mean, slightly though. The wobbly guitars on opener "Lifers," the twitchy Aaron-Dessner-esque production on "I'm Gonna Miss Everything," these are new... I guess... and but maybe it's not a bad thing after all that I'm having a hard time differentiating some of these songs from the ones we reviewed a few years ago? It gives us a simple bottom line: "If you liked the last one, then you'll like this one too." And maybe bands like Spanish Love Songs shouldn't change.

GRADE: 3.5 pukes out of 5 (-0.5 from previous review)

Outside Problems by Andrew Bird
Released: June 3, 2023

Follow-up to: HARK! EP, Week 46

This one is interesting, if not necessarily essential, or even that good. Our boy Andrew Bird at first decided that he was going to record Inside Problems outside, which would have been a great joke. But I guess he only had the equipment rented for one day, and that was the same day his neighbor rented a wood chipper, and so Outside Problems became just some of the improvisational violin parts that he had recorded over the past few years (some of it, yes, recorded outside).

It's not an exaggeration to say that this is Bird's slightest release, maybe even more so than that silly Christmas album we reviewed. The main problem here, of course, is that three of Andrew Bird's strengths—his stately baritone vocals, his bizarre and somehow still poignant lyrics, and his world-class whistling—are all absent. It's like the joke about someone being so good at tennis that they decide to play blindfolded; yes, it's a statement of your confidence in your own abilities, but, like, no one can actually win a tennis game while blindfolded, no matter how talented you are.

But that's not why we're here. Andrew Bird clearly didn't mean this to be a statement album or anything, and so we shouldn't judge it against those standards. Maybe we should instead think of this as an odds and sods collection of B-sides, and measure it accordingly. In that light, it's fine. The opening track, "Mancey," is cool, with the finger-snapping. Kinda falls gradually off after that. The title of the song "Mormon House Party" is perhaps more accurate than Bird intended—this music is soundtracking something, and I can't imagine it's anything fun. But hey, good for this dude for clearing the cupboards and making room for the next proper release.

GRADE: 1.5 pukes out of 5 (-2.0 from first review)

GUTS by Olivia Rodrigo

Released: September 8, 2023

Follow-up to: SOUR, Week 123

Look, I'll be straight with you—I was skeptical after SOUR, and I remained skeptical up until now. I, like any reasonable person might, assumed that SOUR was a mirage, a trick manifested by Disney execs looking for the next big payday. Sure, there was catchiness, but you can throw a net into a sea of pop stars and be assured that you're gonna pull up at least a few catchy songs. What I'm saying is that, if Olivia Rodrigo wasn't the real deal, then there was no way she could pull the same trick twice.

With GUTS, the top hat is removed, and the rabbit is pulled out. I'll go even further than that—not only does Olivia Rodrigo pull the trick again and prove her bona fides, but she also manages to double down on literally every single thing that worked on that first album. That bouncy alt-rock riot-grrl punk-adjacent sound that she was kind of dabbling with on SOUR (to great success, critically and commercially, I should add)? That becomes the backbone of the music here, and I can't sugarcoat it—this shit is fucking awesome.

I'm not saying that Rodrigo is, like, here to save rock 'n' roll or any such nonsense like that. This isn't the second-coming of Veruca Salt, no matter what any claims. This is pop first, rock second, still. Every guitar-driven song with a big hook—"bad idea, right?", or "get him back!", or my favorite, "ballad of a homeschooled girl"—makes itself known as a pop song. And that's fine. I think that's actually for the best here. She's putting a new twist on an old sound. No comparisons to Greta Van Fleet are warranted.

I know she's borrowing a lot from a myriad of sources here, but the important thing is that, together, this feels so fucking fresh and new. Pop music is a delicate alchemy, and it's so easy to repeat a formula verbatim, because often those repeat concoctions are nevertheless rewarded financially. But Rodrigo has a whole new batch here, and I'm all in. I don't say that too often about pop music, but I'm confident enough to say it here: Olivia Rodrigo is the real deal.

GRADE: 4 pukes out of 5 (+0.5 from previous review)

I think out of all the upcoming RC follow-up albums coming out before the new year, I'm most excited to listen to Empty County's Empty Country II, I'm most excited to write about the Rolling Stones' Hackney Diamonds, and I'm most excited to do some hate-listening to Dolly Parton's ROCKSTAR.