Hayley Williams // Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party
Happiness is in short supply
★★★★☆ (4/5)
It’s been five years since Hayley Williams last put out solo material. The sister albums “Petals for Armour” and “Flowers for Vases” saw Williams further exploring the alt-pop that Paramore had first cut on 2017’s. “After Laughter”. While containing plenty of great tracks the production and songwriting never emerged into promised greatness. Neither fully realising the experimental angle nor delivering powerful choruses or memorable melodies.
Thankfully the five-year gaps between albums appear to have addressed both these points. With “Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party” fully realising its potential as both a journey into new sonic landscapes and delivering much tighter songwriting that consistently feels exciting.
From the start, a focus on rhythm and melody is present. “Ice In My OJ” delivers sass-laden vocals which heavily distort and flow into a heavy riff that becomes the song's cornerstone.
As in her previous releases, this album exists as an exploration of love, loss and mental turmoil. Substances emerge as a central theme of the album, whether pharmaceutical, distilled or romantic. Especially on the dreamy “Mirtazapine” where Williams lists the many ways the antidepressant can be a crutch to people.
Throughout, and to nobody’s surprise, Williams delivers exceptional vocals on every track. Exploring her range and finding new textures to her voice.
R&B Drum samples and vocoder-wrapped vocals help set an appropriately dour tone for “Hard”. In which Williams laments an all too familiar concept of guarding oneself through isolation and emotional walls.
While her past two albums leaned far more into the sparse production of the time, this release sees far more consistent use of a fun variety of instruments and sounds to prevent the songs from becoming monotonous over the album's fifty-nine-minute runtime. This is further made clear by the refreshing variety in songwriting, which delivers constant hooks which leave each song full of memorable moments.
One striking aspect of the album is just how vulnerable many of the songs are. Tracks like “Dream Girl in Shibuya” and “Love Me Different” explore aspects of how relationships form and fall apart in a way that feels grittily real.
Much has been made of the heartbroken “Parachute”. It underlines the themes and stylistic choices made throughout the whole album. The verses explore a relationship crumbling before soaring into a chorus which tearfully concedes love for enforced self-reliance.
With “Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party” Williams releases her best solo album which fully realises her as an independent artist, and raises interesting questions as to the future of Paramore.
REVIEW BY: SAM MCNAUGHTON
