Beabadoobee’s angst matures musical identity in gritty rock album ‘Pylon’
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A core aspect of pop-rock artist Beatrice Laus (beabadoobee)’s music is the feeling of childlike innocence her songs evoke — how she whispers in soft breaths as she strums her guitar.
Beabadoobee’s fourth studio album, “Pylon,” is the graduation from this previous core piece of her career. The project is a mature take on irritation with life and relationships, vented through a gritty, rock sound.
Made almost entirely on beabadoobee’s 2023 tour, “Pylon” is the pinnacle of her musical identity. Compared to her previous albums like “Beatopia” and “This Is How Tomorrow Moves,” “Pylon” turns her style on its head and goes back to her rock roots.
The album, released on Sept. 18, was made in a collaborative production effort with Deftones’ vocalist Chino Moreno and Pinegrove’s lead singer and guitarist Evan Stephens Hall. “Pylon” also includes features with modern rock icons like Paramore’s vocalist Hayley Williams and Turnstile’s lead singer Brendan Yates. The project is a musical melting pot of grunge and rock styles that’s so connective across the genre that it’s accessible to any rock fan.
From the beginning of the album, beabadoobee makes it clear that this is nothing like her past work. Although the album’s opener and title track, “Pylon,” begins with beabadoobee’s melancholic style — a duet between the sound of acoustic guitar and vocals — it’s obvious after the first 30 seconds that the style is different.
“But the rest of the roads are clear / And every mile just brings you near,” beabadoobee sings, almost in a whisper.
What comes after these words is a complete flip from the melody’s start. A brash, static-filled guitar echoes throughout, introducing a new grittiness to beabadoobee’s style that is foreign to her past.
This isn’t pop-rock; it’s blatant rock music. It’s clear that “Pylon” isn’t for an audience — beabadoobee made it for herself. She’s venting through the lyrics, almost screeching as she strikes her guitar.
Continuing beabadoobee’s new angst, the album’s second track, “Sun Has Set,” is the most energetic and intense piece on the album. It was no surprise to discover that Shane Moran, guitarist of hardcore band Title Fight, had a part in creating the song — the heavy drum lines and angsty power chords are reminiscent of that 2000s emo punk-rock sound.
The unpolished, punchy guitars throughout the song are an enjoyable contrast to her usual catchy sound. There’s a certain tone that beabadoobee carries throughout the lyrics that matches the guitars — an irritated yet powerful thread that tells her song’s subject that she’s moved forward from their past.
“There’s so much we left unsaid / And so much that you don’t get / F-ck that, not worth thinkin’ about to me now,” beabadoobee sings.
One thing that makes this album so strong is the basis of the story it’s telling: a thoughtful reevaluation of connections made through life and maturing through hardships. The love songs are not about love; they’re about the absence of it. In the album’s third track, “Estranged,” she gives a call to action to move past the feeling of being in an estranged relationship.
“Feelin’ estranged, yeah / I gotta mean it, beat it, but I don’t wanna feel it,” beabadoobee sings in the chorus.
That call to action is continued throughout the rest of the album, to a point where it becomes overkill. Songs like “It’s Alright” and “Nothing To Prove” get lost in the noise of the anger, and the words become more attention-grabbing rather than emotional. They mesh together so much that beabadoobee’s strong lyrical storytelling is hard to push through.
However, the standouts on the album are so complex in emotion that they’re able to move past this repetitive curse. “Radio,” the 10th track, hits like a gut punch. Amid fame, beabadoobee expresses feelings of loneliness, implying that through her songs, listeners can grasp her troubles.
“You’ll listen to this song on the radio / Radio,” beabadoobee sings, the words followed by her melancholic guitar.
“Radio” is a beautiful contrast between the softness of beabadoobee’s voice and the heaviness of her guitar strums, which makes listeners see the vulnerability in her work. The song itself is not the surface-level anger of songs like “It’s Alright” and “Nothing To Prove”; it’s an honest confession of how the spotlight overwhelms her.
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Beabadoobee is one of those artists where you see her growth throughout her albums in musical and lyrical complexity. In her 2020 song “Charlie Brown,” falling back into old habits is more explicit. But on “Satellite,” the final track on “Pylon,” loneliness is conveyed through cosmic symbolism, a complex theme that demonstrates how far she’s come as a songwriter.
“Satellite” hits home with the shared experience of loneliness at the expense of artistic droughts and phone addiction. The imagery of space, the idea of “orbiting you / Like a satellite,” is a beautiful take on what it feels like to float through life. Ending the album with this song finalizes this continued expression of personal hardship and the aggravation with it.
This entire album is almost a musical rage room across all 14 tracks. It’s the most outlandish and complex project beabadoobee has released, but it fits so well with her identity as a person.
This vulnerability, manifested through lyrical resentment toward complicated relationships and expectations within them, is a key aspect of what makes her music so relatable.
At 17 years old, beabadoobee released her first song, “Coffee,” a delicate acoustic ballad. Now with a new level of maturity and a gritty sound, “Pylon” feels like the climax of the 26-year-old’s discography.
With a fitting name, beabadoobee expresses how, in a way, she is like an electricity pylon, constantly carrying heavy burdens as she moves through life. Even though the sound in “Pylon” is a black sheep when compared to her past work, I hope her future projects continue this new sound.
