CLAIRO - Charm

Claire Cottrill, aka Clairo, is showing an ever-clearer intent to engage with the alchemy of soft rock while staying outside mainstream dialectics, a choice already affirmed with her debut “Immunity“, an album that carefully avoided giving in to the temptations of the quick-hit success she'd tasted thanks to her remarkable YouTube view counts. With the follow-up “Sling“, Clairo proved she could handle a presence as overbearing as producer Jack Antonoff, staying true to a cultured vision of indie-pop in which, rather than the modern delicatessen style of Billie Eilish, the artist favored a skilled songwriting craft inherited from the tradition of Laura Nyro and Carole King.

Fully in keeping with its bedroom-pop nature, the new project “Charm” stays aligned with lo-fi technique, but the extreme care taken over the arrangements by producer Leon Michels (El Michels Affair) and the use of live analog recording captured to tape shift the balance toward an even more elegant and luxurious sonic staging. The move from the youthful euphoria of “Immunity” to the placid plains of “Sling” has undoubtedly sharpened Clairo's artistic sensibility. The songs that make up “Charm” are decidedly more incisive, the arrangements shine through their variety, and her voice carves out space among the instruments, reconciling reflective tones with impulsive surges.

Expanding the instrumental palette and focusing attention on lyrical and musical detail is the real winning weapon of “Charm”. The dense soft rock of opener “Nomad” acts as a bridge between past (the song had already appeared on the post-“Sling” tour) and present, reconciling more remarkable riffs with sonic refinements (here, the sound of the Wurlitzer) that heighten its magic.

The agile, vibrant funk-pop of “Sexy To Someone” has all the right qualities to win over even the most skeptical listeners: Clairo moves with class and sensuality through the sounds orchestrated by Leon Michels with a taste and wit reminiscent of Todd Rundgren; qualities further perceptible in the hushed, acerbic organ tones and the playful closing sax that animate the carefree Blood Sweat & Tears-style r&b of “Second Nature”, but also in seemingly more ordinary ballads like “Slow Dance”, a track with an elegant orchestral fabric drawing on jazz, soul, psychedelia and Laurel Canyon-style country.

Having filed away another successful r&b-pop number (“Thank You”), the album makes further room for interesting instrumental breaks that engage with jazz and soul through a series of fine piano, drum and guitar solos (“Terrapin”, “Juna”).

After a brief funk-pop refresher (“Add Up My Love”), Clairo ventures into the magical world of Stereolab's psychedelic pop, first reworking their melancholic mood complete with a small organ and a lounge-kraut rhythm (“Echo”), then with a refined groove built on muffled drum-machine textures, flutes and velvety tones (“Glory Of The Snow”). It falls to closer “Pier 4” to further underline the traits that make “Charm” a unique and enchanting work: the austere charm of melodies that gradually worm their way into the mind, the spell cast by the artist's hushed, flute-like singing, and the many details that make such finely crafted music flow so smoothly.

“ Charm ” is an almost anachronistic pop record, an intimate diary told with honest and measured passion, a faithful companion for countless evening listens, but also afternoon and morning ones. Eleven songs that reconcile the listener with feelings as understated as they are precarious and genuine.

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02/08/2024