Avalanche＜限定盤/Colored Vinyl＞

Over the course of a debut album (2021s adolescence) and a pair of 2023 EPs, Berlin-raised, London-based musician THALA crafted a soporific, atmospheric indie pop/rock that incorporated 90s influences such as shoegaze, dream pop, and grungier alt-rock, all softened by her sweet, gauzy vocal delivery. The follow-up, Avalanche, was recorded with contributors including Icelandic producer/songwriter Mani Orrason, who helps push these influences further into the background of something with a slightly poppier bearing. Opening track "1st of the year," for instance, starts with glitchy electronic timbres before coming back down to earth with piano and electric bass and eventually settling into a fusion of club music and brittle acoustic pop. While that song is about trying to take a deep dive into a relationship instead of protecting herself as usual, shes more confrontational on the revenge-seeking "spit you out," which employs more straightforward indie rock instrumentation. Elsewhere, the drowsy "drive song," with its Cure-reminiscent layered guitars, dreads dealing with a relationship thats heading downhill. THALA continues to explore complicated connections, ambivalent feelings, and melancholia on songs that are a kinda catchy, sorta hazy, and always pained, while not really getting anywhere on finding a common cause ("Maybe Im too self-centered/Mmm, I dont think I am/Sometimes looking for others to blame/When the days of not knowing are driving me insane"). Following songs with titles like "sinner" and "sleep paralysis," the just-over-a-half-hour set closes on a depressed title track that functions as a dramatic epilogue in which she takes responsibility, considers professional help, and humors the idea of a better life. ~ Marcy Donelson