illuminati hotties, the brainchild of GRAMMY Award-winning producer Sarah Tudzin returns with new album ‘Power’, a record that examines how the modern world can be full of both misery and joy – often within a split-second of each other.
‘I Would Still Love You’ has a frenetic and frantic drum beat as Sarah explains how ‘Every day is a blessing, every day is a problem’ without taking a breath. She then takes aim at modern romance, claiming how you can still love someone even if they try to ‘drill a hole through my heart’. There’s a sublime synth-led undercurrent running through ‘Throw (Life Raft)’ while ‘Rot’ opens in more acoustic fashion as Sarah talks about starting afresh: ‘It’s impossible to carry it all’.
‘Falling in Love with Somebody Better’ appears to be about being more honest with yourself while there’s a delightful fight pop attitude in the glitchy ‘The L’. ‘Sleeping In’ reminds us of Belle and Sebastian or The Lemon Twigs with its sweet melodies and joyous tones: ‘Don’t be sad when I get up, I’ll be right there’; ‘Love is coexistence, you forget that you’re side by side’. ‘You Are Not Who You Were’ slows things down with some painful home truths – ‘I stitch myself to your disaster’ – while ‘What’s the Fuzz’ is 2 minutes and 20 seconds of grunge-laden guitar hooks.
‘YSL’ has a delicious bass line in its intro, some call-and-response vocals and a direct line of questioning: ‘Do you really want to waste your time?’ The title track straddles the line between twinkly emo and anthemic Death Cab melodies before the album finishes with the DIY sound of ‘Everything Changes’. This is a song that examines the self-doubt that comes with isolation: ‘Watching every person around you getting their life done like they’re moving on’.
With its deeply personal observations and addictive pop hooks, ‘Power’ is a force to be reckoned with.