Photo Credit: Aidan Zamiri
Although some synth-pop nerds might remember Chairlift, most people probably heard the name Caroline Polachek for the first time when she started her solo career in 2019 with Pang and her shimmering indie-pop hit “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings.” Now, on her second solo effort, Desire, I Want to Turn into You, she has fully realized her potential as the hottest name in alt-pop of the 2020s.
As if it were an attempt to summon a group of blue whales, the record starts with the loudest and most unhinged album-opening roar ever recorded, before “Welcome to My Island” eventually turns out to be the most straightforward pop song of the record. “Hope you like me // I ain’t leaving,” she sings confidently, while the anthemic, stadium-ready choruses take us up on a high plateau far above the clouds.
The melodic lullabies and clever wordplay of “Pretty in Possible” lead us to the following masterpiece: “Bunny Is a Rider.” Released already back in 2021, everything has already been said about this mysterious electro-funk – but it’s certainly worth a revisit. “Sunset” is a fresh breeze of Latin pop that manages to sound authentic thanks to Polachek’s ever-astonishing vocals and the joyous production, which is credited to a row of prize-awarded names, including fellow art-pop mastermind Charli XCX-collaboratives Jim-E Stack and Ariel Rechtshaid.
After another spine-tingling vocal performance during the echoing “Crude Drawing of an Angel,” the second side fails to live up to the larger-than-life scope of the first. Grimes and Dido’s features in the hyper pop-piece “Fly to Me” are pointless on a record that clearly only has room for one star, while songs like “Hopedrunk Everasking” and “Smoke” are forgettable compared to earlier delicacies.
But despite this, the showstopping finale “Billions” makes sure we get to stay on that high plateau until the very final moments, as Polachek fuses glitchy 100 Gecs-pop with soulful Whitney Houston-crooning and some of her finest, most contradictory lyrics (“sexting sonnets // under the tables,” “lies like a sailor // loves like a painter”). It all ends with a children’s choir repeating the line “I never felt so close to you” over and over until it fades away, satisfyingly reconnecting with the record’s self-revealing theme.
In conclusion, Desire, I Want to Turn into You is an impressive, boundary-pushing record that sparkles with new ideas and tasteful packaging. Even though the first side is considerably stronger than the second, none of it feels flat and comparisons to Kate Bush and Björk indeed feel uncalled for – she’s truly made a name for herself with this one. And anyone who’s able to make a children’s choir work deserves praise.
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