After an amazing trip to the Californian seashore in her previous album Norman F****** Rockwell, Lana del Rey is finally back, but right now, in a very different way. Produced by the brilliant Jack Antonoff, Chemtrails Over the Country Club is the magical transition between delicacy and depth that no artist but her can demonstrate.
The album’s name is a reference to a famous conspiracy theory that claims the idea that the traces left by airplanes in the sky are chemicals with the function of controlling the population. This hypothesis fits perfectly with Lana del Rey’s aesthetic, known for its unfiltered portrayal of fame, money, and other elements of the North American cultural repertoire.
With eleven tracks running between folk, indie pop, and a little bit of country, Lana teleports us to the 1960’s United States, as can be seen in the clip Chemtrails Over the Country Club. Furthermore, the singer also presents some 1970’s hippies’ characteristics in songs like Yosemite and Let me Love You Like a Woman, when she sings “Eighty miles North ou South will do / I don’t care where as long as you’re with me / And I’m with you […]”
Both noted for their spectacular sonority, Tulsa Jesus Freak and Dark But Just a Game are the album highlights, the first one is fitted somewhere between sensual and angelic feelings, “Sing me like a Bible hymn” is one of the best verses of the song. And in the second one, Lana makes us close our eyes and imagine a deep life in black and white, singing: “The faces aren’t the same, but their stories all end tragically / […] And that’s the price of fame”
Other songs cannot go unnoticed, in Wild at Heart, Lana sings about a deep and dangerous love with her mesmerizing voice: “And if I had to do it all again / I would, because, babe, in the end / It brought me here to you”. In Dance Till We Die, the second-to-last track, the singer surprises everyone by conducting her music between a soft melody and country beats that completely match with the album’s aesthetic.
Chemtrails Over the Country Club is a bucolic American dream portrayed in verses that expose deep thoughts of the human being. Lana del Rey is still the same woman who enchants everyone, but the transition between different music genres and sensitives but also remarkable lyrics prove that she is one of today’s greatest talents.
When you finish listening to Lana del Rey’s new album, the feeling is obvious: Completely satisfied. In a career crossing more than ten years, Lana’s evolution is exceptional, it’s impossible not to be curious about what’s next in her life.
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The article above was edited by Laura Ferrazzano.
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