Love Crash is a reflective and deeply human full-length return from New York anti-folk artist Block
When he released ‘I Thought I Won The War’ back last year, his first new single since 2013, championed New York anti-folk artist Block immediately signalled to listeners that he was back and in a big way, still armed with the trademark wit and pioneering appeal that saw him become one of the bastions of the movement back in the 90s. His new album Love Crash sees the artist’s sound reframed for modern times, while maintaining the distinctive edge that has seen him lauded by so many.
The album opens with the aforementioned ‘I Thought I Won The War’, a track about the uneasy realisation that you’re unhappy in a relationship and life that you feel trapped in, immediately pushing the album into deep waters and setting the tone for a release that will spend a lot of time pushing back against the darkness that comes with them.
There is a resonating softness to ‘California Calls’, a track that has a slow-burning intensity to it throughout while feeling stripped-back and deeply personal throughout. There is a grunginess to the track throughout, threatening to spill into something heavier and more uncompromising but finding restraint throughout, with the quiet power of Block’s vocals doing a great job of feeling muted yet full of passion.
If there is a breakout release from the album then it is the third track, ‘Over and Over’, a track that finds the artist in typically confessional form, with the artist poetically articulating his struggles with OCD in a matter-of-fact way through spoken vocals and moody sonic textures. It is a track that does a great job of highlighting the rawness and authenticity of his sound, and one that sticks with you beyond your listen.
There is a really resonating and relatable feel to ‘Firefly’, a track that has a conversational feel to it throughout with Block wearing his heart on his sleeve and opening up about his thoughts and feelings in a way that feels poignant throughout. The track takes quite a sombre turn thematically, and the gorgeously plucked guitars do a stellar job of setting the tone and making for a moving listen throughout.
There is a more upbeat punky flair and attitude to ‘All In My Head’, a track that has a fuller and more all-encompassing feel to it instrumentally, with the bass providing a particular highlight. The catchy refrain of the chorus ensures that the track has a good chance of sticking around in your head too.
The artist’s more intricate, folky tendencies rear their head on the captivating ‘Song To Jamie’, a track and a narrative that seems to revel in its imperfections, the pitfalls of life and navigating through them. All of this seems fine because of the all-conquering, unmistakable feeling of love and gratitude that shines through the release, rendering all of the misalignments and backwards steps useless against it.
There is a real juxtaposition to ‘The Heartbreak Song’, a track that explores predictably bleak themes but with an entirely contrasting, even jaunty soundscape and witty, humour-filled solutions that feel as nonsensical as they are cathartic. It is a track that sees the artist playing with the conventions of the genre and the heartbroken breakup song on the whole, and it makes for a riotously fun time.
There is a really personal and engrossing feel to the fingerpicked ‘Carly Says’, a reflective track that serves as a message of hope and resilience, while the punchier ‘No One Ever Taught Me How’ is a track that has more of a bite to it while he explores the sensation of having to essentially “learn on the job” as he navigates through life and love, somehow tripping and falling into these situations with no experience or guile to fall back on. These tracks do a great job of showcasing the breadth of the artist’s sound while still feeling tied together by his personality and distinctive appeal.
The album closes out with the powerful ‘Still Life’, a track that feels like a fitting ending to an album that has been packed full of so much humour, introspection and candid observations on life and love and the feelings we experience along the way. There is so much heartache and joy packed into these 10 tracks, with the personality and unique charm of Block allowed to shine through each one of them in different ways, and this track feels like the reckoning that comes at the end of all of that, the acceptance that life goes on beyond all of that, leaving us killing time and reflecting on the choices we have made in a way that feels human and real.
