If You Asked for a Picture

With her 2023 eponymous debut as Blondshell, singer and songwriter Sabrina Teitelbaum inhabited a 1990s-inspired alt-rock sound for hooky and angsty songs that were more personal than her previous projects and that combined candid grievances with a rare dry wit. The album launched her onto Billboard side charts, The Tonight Show, and a tour with Liz Phair, amid persistent touring. Being on the road more than at home changed both her relationships and her outlook, and the follow-up is a more searching, existential outing with a somewhat darker, denser sound to match. It reunites her with Blondshell producer Yves Rothman. The albums title, If You Asked for a Picture, was taken from the Mary Oliver poem "Dogfish," itself about navigating lifes travails, and Teitelbaums humor is on display with a cover photo that answers the title with an annoyed refusal to smile. The 12-track album begins with the plaintive, midtempo "Thumbtack," a song thats about keeping a negative presence around only because: "You distract from whats worse, so I will let you/Keep a ball chain on my leg." One of the records sparser songs, it opens with acoustic guitar before gradually adding a rhythm section, electric guitar, and Mellotron. While still in a melancholy mood, she soon dives into grimier guitar tones and feedback with "T&A," a track that asks but doesnt answer the question: "Why dont the good ones love me?" Elsewhere, she overthinks a past relationship on the pop-punk-leaning buzzy rocker "Whats Fair," which is paired with the more stripped-back "Two Times," a title taken from the chorus "Ill come back if you put me down two times." An album highlight among a consistently chagrined and catchy set, the driving "23s a Baby" wonders why society considers those in their early twenties to be adults. Later, the gloomy, post-punk-tinged "Toy" offers up gems like, "Ive been running this ship like the navy/But its more like a Wendys" and "We need the Steely Dan-ification/Of this operation." By the time reflective closer "Model Things" leaves listeners with observations including, "The problem is I dont know what I want anymore/Glued a rose to the top of the door but it fell/Life may have been happening elsewhere," many fans and newcomers alike will have been won over by another album that disarms and charms with its flawed universe while offering just enough musical catharsis. ~ Marcy Donelson

デビュー作が多くのメディアに絶賛されたブロンドシェルことサブリナ・タイテルバウムのセカンド・アルバム。聴きどころはインディー・ロック然としたサウンドに滲むトラディショナルなソングライティングの妙味だろう。その魅力は"Model Rockets"のようなクラシックなバラードでこそ十二分に味わえるような気も。若干の濁りが混じる歌声も彼女の個性を印象づける。
bounce (C)山口智男