S.I.D.E.S.

After her international breakthrough in 2017 with the song "No Roots," Berlin-based alt-pop artist Alice Merton took her anthemic full-length debut, 2019s Mint, to number two in Germany and charted elsewhere in Europe while also landing in the Top 20 of Billboards Independent Albums chart. Following three years later, S.I.D.E.S. offers a sizeable 15-song track list written and recorded during a period that included pandemic shutdowns as well as both personal and professional conflict. The resulting material features lyrics that are more existential and confrontational, in addition to a palette thats a touch darker and more abrasive, all conceived by Merton, who co-wrote and co-produced every song alongside a rotating cast of contributors. Among them were producer Jonny Coffer (Beyonce, Ellie Goulding), producer/songwriter Jennifer Decilveo (Andra Day, Porridge Radio), and mixer Matty Green (Dua Lipa, Weezer). She kicks off the album with the defiant, then regretful "Loveback," whose early declaration of "I dont need you" is accompanied by melodic lead guitar, chugging bass and drums, and shimmery keys. However, a more authoritative chorus has other ideas, beginning with the impatient bass drum-accompanied vocal "Now I want my love back." Bold, catchy anthems are Mertons wheelhouse, and they populate S.I.D.E.S., although there are a few diversions here in the form of the midtempo "Blurry," a yearning, 80s pop-evoking entry with a similar mix of synths and electric guitar, and the gentler, more melancholy ballads "Everything" and "Shiny Things," which borrows EDM-oriented sound effects without ever settling into club cliches (although a couple later tracks test that boundary). Likewise, "Mania" adopts a spookier atmosphere with banshee-like backing vocals, and "Vertigo" borders on a cinematic hard rock with moments of unison vocals and synth bass. These songs feel more like modest digressions in the scheme of things, though, especially when S.I.D.E.S. ends on the pulsing "The Other Side," an empowering, marching pop anthem that makes it clear Merton is aiming to return to the charts. ~ Marcy Donelson