Phoebe Green – Ask Me Now

In the two years since the release of her proposed breakthrough album, Phoebe Green has parted ways with her former record label and set up on her own, teaming up with songwriter and producer Steph Marziano on a swirling four-track independent collection that veers sharply away from the atypical bedroom pop laid out on 2022’s ‘Lucky Me’. Instead, ‘Ask Me Now’ leans into prominent synths and delicate vocal distortion, driven by a wayward melancholia that lays the foundation for some of her best work to date – not least the slow dance disco of ‘Embarrass Me’ or the haunting reservation of ‘I Could Love You’. Opener ‘Relevant’’s admittedly catchy near-bubblegum pop aside, the three remaining tracks deliver a maturity unseen since Phoebe’s 2021’s aptly titled ‘So Grown Up’. The production adds a new depth, sitting somewhere between Robyn’s most affecting work and hazy early mornings in European warehouses. It’s pop with the alternative ramped all the way up, both a reintroduction and a welcome ellipsis in a career that – based on this – is ready to step right up come studio album number two.