IN REVIEW: Meg Myers - "Sorry"

 

Considering how long her star has been rising, it's kind of a headscratcher that Meg Myers is just releasing her debut album now; depending on how much street cred you have in the vault, you may have been talking about her for over three years (she posted her first video, the hipster-ridiculing Tennessee, to YouTube in May 2012). Of course, heads really started to turn last year when she released her second EP Make a Shadow; in addition to holding fans over for her full length debut, it spawned a moderate hit in Desire. Three of Make a Shadow's five songs are included on Sorry, though curiously Go and Heart Heart Head didn't make the cut despite also being singles (and my two personal favourites from the EP).

This leaves seven "new" songs for the LP, three of which saw release leading up to the album. The title track is one of Myers' most blatantly pop-leaning singles to date, though it still manages to strike a powerful chord. Lemon Eyes, meanwhile, gives her a chance to mix arena-sized rock ambition with some of her off-kilter quirks; it's ostensibly a pop single with loud rock guitars, which sounds strangely fresh in the current landscape. New single Motel, meanwhile, is a dark and sultry number more in line with Desire; complimented by subtle acoustic guitar and punctuated with a thick chorus with Myers' multi-layered vocals.

The latter song also features an excerpt from an interview with Townes Van Zandt wherein he discusses his perceived disposition for writing "sad" songs. It's simultaneously an homage to a songwriting inspiration and a key to Myers' own process. There isn't much in the way of happy endings or closure among the tortured souls of Myers' subjects; for every seemingly positive song (for example, the lovestruck A Bolt from the Blue) there's a dark, destructive dirge around the bend (A Bolt from the Blue is immediately followed by Desire).

Of the new songs not promoted before the album's release, I Really Want You to Hate Me is among the most stark and unsettling, but it's also Meg Myers operating at peak power. Lyrically, she spends most of the song attacking herself, even wishing for death; by the song's soaring, tense conclusion, she's fighting with all of her strength against these thoughts and, by the following track (the sparse, acoustic ballad Parade), she seems to have come to terms with it all, but acknowledges "I won't die alone". Saving her biggest swing for last, the sprawling, near six minute closing track Feather sees her asking "Mama, can I sleep forever?" before achieving freedom as the song builds and breaks around her. It's a pained, uncertain ending, but it also feels like a logical one.

If you prefer not to read into the clues and meanings, though, Sorry is still a fine pop/rock album, full of dark moods and bright twists and boasting a muscular, confident tracklist that supports its extended gestation process. It could have hit harder by incorporating different material from her EPs, but it's hard to imagine Sorry cutting deeper than it does in its current state.

September 18, 2015 • Atlantic
Highlights Desire • Sorry • I Really Want You To Hate Me