After hearing Kevin Abstract's "Arizona Baby" and of course Lana Del Rey's last couple albums, I fell in love with their production, which was taken care of by Jack Antonoff a somewhat reclusive producer who formed this new band called Red Hearse. This project, led by Sam Dew on vocals is a synth pop compilation of melodic and catchy songs with some great instrumentation from the two other members of the band, Jack Antonoff and Sounwave (a pretty frequent Kendrick Lamar collaborator). Although not the most experimental album ever the record is pretty enjoyable and has some of my favorite music I've heard in the last few weeks. Beautiful synths and drum patterns fill this record and although I would consider it pretty "poppy" it doesn't fit the traditional verse/chorus/verse/chorus structure that your anyday pop song would fit into, it's unique, it's well thought out and extremely catchy, like really catchy, certain parts of each song get stuck in my head all the time mostly on "Honey" which is without a doubt my favorite track. One pet peeve I have about the record is that it came out at the end of the damn summer if it had come out in june/july, it might've been one of my records of the summer, its still good though, I'm just saying it could've been put out in juneeeee.
Highlights on "Red Hearse" for me:
-"Half Love" is most likely the most "pop" song on the record but still crazy good, the intro is great really sets a tone for the whole album, the song also comes with an amazing music video with a cameo from St Vincent. Given this was my first time hearing Sam Dew's voice I was pretty excited for the rest of the album, he has an amazing voice. I hear some influence from like Daft Punk on the song too, it's just great.
-"Red Hearse" usually not a huge fan of title tracks they usually don't live up to my expectations but this one sure does, the imagery of dying riding in a red hearse is really cool, the build up that leads into the chorus is also really well done and overall just really catchy.
-"Honey" is easily my favorite song on the project its by far the catchiest in my opinion, the instrumental is gorgeously produced, the guitar and synth are beautifully put together to create a pop song that is extremely enjoyable.
I don't hate a single song on this album there are a couple I might skip every now and then such as "Born To Bleed" and "Blessin' Me" but even those I find myself listening to every now and then so it's not like I'm going to hate on them. Overall a really enjoyable and dreamy light hearted album that can be played over and over without anyone getting sick of it. Solid 7/10.