Album Review Phoebe Green - Lucky Me

Having parted ways with the guitar, Manchester-based Phoebe Green joins a wave of artists actively reinventing pop. ‘Make It Easy’ adds a distinctive spin to the innovative Billie Eilish sound, while the suitably frantic Jessica Winter-produced ‘Crying In The Club’ treads lightly into the world of hyperpop. Phoebe exists candidly at the centre of each, louder than the dark synths that underpin much of ‘Lucky Me’. Spoken word moments peppered throughout hark back to the ‘80s on an album that pushes musical boundaries well past the present day. In sound, it’s as bold as the personality that runs through it. ‘Lucky Me’ explores the duality of emotion, with Phoebe embracing her sensitivity to rediscover herself. The guitar that once dominated her sound emerges as a front, removed and replaced with newfound openness - never more so than on ‘DieDieDie’’s unsettling synth-balladry depicting unavoidable pain. On ‘I Wish You Never Saw Me Cry’ she delves into her battle with vulnerability, all the while filtered through voice distorters, unexpected time signatures, and atypical style. ‘Lucky Me’ twists from the haunting simplicity of its opener to the nightmarish complexity of its closing four. It plays out in line with her feelings, both palpable and disjointed. “You don’t know me,” she sings on ‘Crying In The Club’, “but I don’t mind ‘cause I don’t either.” The words ring out from somebody still grasping for clarity in a world of confusion, and who swaps the structure of straightforward pop for the beautiful chaos of discovery.