Lorde Relives a Lust For Life in New Single "Hammer"
New Zealand's own and global alternative pop icon Lorde has dropped "Hammer," the first track off her forthcoming album, where she paints a picture of her live experience of a euphoric and meteoric lust for life. A few days after its release, we can say its a guaranteed banger we will be bumping our heads to for the foreseable future.
This single off of Lorde's upcoming LP Virgin is an "ode to city life and horniness" and it's hard to miss why with lyrics like, "don't know if it's love or if it's ovulation."
Production-wise, Jim-E Stack provides a infectious beat with sonic-fusion of single piano open chords, distorted vocal synth loops, a droning durm machine, and cello.
Auckland-born Ella Yelich-O’Connor earlier said Virgin is a project that is deeply personal to her and an "offering from deep inside me." The record is her fourth studio album and is set to be released on June 27.
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The 28-year-old previously released two other singles off the upcoming LP, namely: the youthful snyth-pop anthem "What Was That," and the more intimate and gender explorary track "Man Of The Year," that sees her whisper-tone vocals building up into a catharthic crescendo of booming key leads.
In "Hammer," Lorde unaplogetically references her tendency to be chronically online with the lines, "The liquid crystal is in my grip," with the metaphorical hammer playing the role of her smartphone.
The themes of gender discovery and rebirth alive in the previous two singles don't miss a beat here.
"Some days, I'm a woman, some days I'm a man. I might have been born again. I'm ready to feel like I don't have the answers," are lines that jump out of the speakers, which culiminates in a chorus of a catharthic vocalization accompanied by the programmed drums and the distorted synth flourishes.
Lorde's trademark nostalgia-driven and almost overstimulating imagery barrage narration will not be lost on listeners here. She gives the listener a supercut of spontaneity such as getting your ears pierced and getting your aura picture taken in the Big Apple.
This vibrant, somewhat discordant storytelling still hits the nail on the head as the synth-centric dance music will make you feel okay about losing your mind.
The alternative pop juggernaut still shows that she never stopped evolving as a songwriter and continues to showcase her knack for enveloping people into a supercut of nostalgia and sonic bliss. A perfect coming of age music soundtrack for the reverie of twenty-something-year-olds.
