No Place (studio album) by Danielle Durack

From Mercury 01/28/2021 21:03

75 to 85/100 (While mining very familiar indie pop singer/songwriter terrain, this album manages to be sweet, relatable, well-written and just about tailor-made to be something I'd dig. And... I do indeed quite dig this. You won't be mind-blown nor will you be challenged by the music or the lyrics, but you will likely enjoy the vocals and the sweet songs and the whole character of this album and artist. Or you will write it off as being the same ting you heard million times and that's that, haha.)

I listened to this several times. Went away for a bit. Then came back and listened some more times. I may have listened to this somewhat simple and straightforward singer/songwriter album more than any other album released in 2021 so far. The reason for this is simply that I quite enjoyed this album and also I was trying to pin down what I liked about it. I came to no clear conclusion on the latter. But I'll give my simplistic thoughts nonetheless.

This album isn't a lyrical showcase of sheer mastery like recent Phoebe Bridgers. Nor is it anguished and brutally honest in a Julien Baker sort of way. Instead it is a straight forward Indie pop/rock singer songwriter album with lyrics wrapped up in general questions of what to do with your young life. Many of the songs have to do with trying to break away from a bad relationship, and all the mental and emotional vacillations that can take place in such a situation. Perhaps not the most unique theme, but one well executed here throughout.

Musically its all quite pleasant. I personally love the melody and the breezy, somewhat John Mayer-ish sound of "I'll Try". I really like the slow build and pay off of "Billy", a song all about some problem young man always fucking his life up with bad decisions. Danielle's voice is so damn pleasant throughout the whole album, but especially great is the passion and the dynamics of "There Goes My Heart". I love the simple acoustic pop of "Now That I'm Alone", despite the lyrics being a bit lacking for me personally. "Some Day" feels wildly familiar in sound and melody and theme and the way the song builds - but that's not always a bad thing - and its certainly not bad here as I really quite like this song. And of course "Eggshells" is a great closer to the album. Everything good about the album is represented on the closer, some heartfelt bad relationship and goodbye lyrics, some really pretty pop rock music, some great vocals, and the 5 minute song just flies by.

So, this album, while being unoriginal and somewhat plain, is one I personally quite like (not quite love). There is nothing I can hear that is transcendent or super incredibly memorable. But why do I wanna listen to this album over and over? I don't know. I have my musical preferences. I love albums that seem to be simple expressions of the heart and mind of a songwriter. I like the comfortable familiarity, I love the feeling of just immersing myself in an album like this. Never challenged, never made uncomfortable, never really blown away, but always engaged and interested. This is just my jam as you may say. Whenever an album like this comes around and I really like it I get a little self-conscious. I feel like Joel Barish in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind when he asks “Why do I fall in love with every woman I see that shows me the least bit of attention?” - its like that with singer/songwriter albums of the easy on the ears variety like this. Oh well, I guess that's just the way it is. I can't deny it. This is my comfort music, and in this case it also happens to be a good album. If that "goodness" gets a bonus due to personal taste, so be it.

This is a really solid, warm, inviting, engaging, beautiful little indie pop album that I recommend.