Tove Lo - "Lady Wood" Album Review
“Yeah, you give me wood. Give me lady wood.”
After releasing sleeper hit “Habits” and unleashing her debut album “Queen Of The Clouds”, Tove moved away from solo music and instead lent her vocal to tracks for artists including Nick Jonas, Flume and Broods. However, she has returned and released her sophomore album “Lady Wood”, a succinct and powerful electropop experience.
This 12-track LP (including two interludes) is broken up into two chapters: Fairy Dust and Fire Fade. Fairy Dust is somewhat poppier and lighter than the dark and brooding Fire Fade. Tove has previously broken up an album into segments (on QOTC, there was The Sex, The Love and The Pain) and it makes for an ultra-cohesive listen. The tracks seem to effortlessly flow as a tapestry of electronica without ever amalgamating too much and sounding too similar. Each track is clearly defined as a distinct entity, yet all help to portray the same winding narrative. Tove also has an uncanny ability to leap from subject matter to subject matter without the album seeming clunky and unorganised. Songs such as album highlight and titular track “Lady Wood” see Tove begging her lover to be with her, whereas “Keep It Simple” sees Tove wanting to only keep things physical to avoid such feelings of love.
Perhaps the biggest triumph on “Lady Wood” is the production. It is hard-hitting, moody and pulsating. It adds an extra layer of storytelling to each of the songs (for example, on the explosive outro on the track “Flashes”). The production bounces around from slyly cool on the aptly titled “Cool Girl” to brooding and foreshadowing on “Don’t Talk About It” and everything in between.
Overall, Lady Wood is unapologetic in its veracity, coherent in its narrative and perhaps most poignantly, raw in its stories. It is one of the best albums released in 2016. Tove has managed to upstage the fabulous “Queen Of The Clouds” with this cool, sleek, yet explosive record and she should be immensely proud of herself.
OVERALL: 93/100
Favourite Tracks: Lady Wood, Keep It Simple, True Disaster, Don't Talk About It
Least Favourite Tracks: Nil. But if I had to choose, maybe WTF Love Is
