Revisited: Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You (Part 2)
It may, in fact, be album of the year.
The much anticipated part two. If you missed the first part, make sure to read that first. Or not, that's cool too.
But just in case you missed it, I'm currently going through one of my top three favorite albums that came out this year. I think Caroline Polachek strikes a balance between great songwriting and very interesting sonic production.
Now let's dive into part two of Desire, I Want To Turn Into You by Caroline Polachek.
Fly to You (feat. Grimes & Dido)
This is undoubtedly my least favorite track on this album. If I'm being completely honest, I'm not usually that big of a fan of features on albums, regardless of who is being featured. This song is usually a skip for me if it comes up in a shuffle. I know I said that Welcome To My Island felt like an outlier in the first part. But I feel like Fly To You is an even worse outlier. Six months later, it's not a song I've remotely come close to coming around to. Sorry, not sorry.
I think those who are more EDM-pop focused may find a home here. But Fly To You doesn't do it for me sonically. Though, I think lyrically, the song is interesting. Some lyrics that stood out to me were, “Lost, but I'm free. I'm looking for something that nobody else can see. Will You still love me after the bend?”
Blood and Butter
Right off the bat, this song hits you with that gritty synth and the single key echoed piano. Then you have that very thick bass line down the center tambourine out of the right channel, and hi-hat coming in soon after out of the left.
This song also has a “if you're not paying attention you'll miss it” bit. At about the 45-second mark, you'll hear a synth come in on the right channel and go away completely a few seconds later, never to come back. Those are always great.
I absolutely love that for the pre-chorus, everything gets stripped back and it's just her vocal and an acoustic guitar. You also have the pulsing synth that moves back and forth between the left and right channels. Pure ear candy.
But what stood out to me more than anything else, and what makes this song for me is the bagpipe solo. That's not something I was expecting, but is now something I look forward to every time I hear the track.
This song is an understated bop. Maybe not at first, but over time you'll learn to sing and dance to this sick beat.
Of course, the song starts to strip itself apart, and by the end, you have just the synth. I absolutely love outros like this. Another example of it is Michael Jackson's Who Is It, that song ends in a similarly beautiful way.
Hoepdrunk Everasking
Can't start this one out without calling out the inherent reference in the song title. But also, the smoke alarm in every other bar. Just brilliant. It cuts the very serious and sad nature of the track.
This song is a great breather from all the bangers that came before it. I can definitely hear the raw emotion in her voice here. The song has a very eerie, but not quite scary vibe to it.
The vocal layering at the 1:42 mark is gorgeous. It’s a part I like to play over and over. What's more impressive is that she's able to keep you engaged, even though this portion of the track runs for nearly a minute.
The lyrics to this song are sparse but paint a very clear picture. My interpretation is that it's about someone who's trying their hardest, but isn't seen. They never get found, even after they're dead after getting fully drunk.
Butterfly Net
This is the perfect song to follow Hopedrunk Everasking. It's just a notch above, being ever so slightly happier. What I love about this track is the organ that plays in between the verses. In my opinion, it’s the centerpiece of the track.
I also love the use of high-frequency sounds in this song. From the shakers to what sounds like a cowbell that was recorded in an anechoic chamber.
Butterfly Net is a song that I love listening to with my eyes closed from start to finish. It's such a tragically beautiful song.
But that transition between Butterfly Net and the next song, Smoke, is just chef's kiss. But it's done so gracefully that you won't really notice it's there if the song comes up in a playlist or a library shuffle.
Smoke
We're back on the upswing.
I love the winding tape sound at the beginning. Gives it a bit of a retro vibe. Then you have the low-pass filtered drum kit, giving the bass/synth combo room to breathe.
What's interesting about Smoke is that it seems to be a callback song to earlier tracks on the album. The chorus seems to interpolate the same melody from the first track on this album, Welcome To My Island.
Towards the end of the track, you also hear a call back to Pretty In Possible, where Caroline sings, “And how does it feel... being so…” Again, one of those things you have to listen carefully for, as it's coming out of the right channel and is being sung over the rhythmic vocals in the outro of the track.
Billions
The first thing I noticed is the reversed instruments that play within the first fifteen seconds of the song. This makes me think “We're nearing the end of the album and it's time to leave.”
Much like other tracks on this album, I love how this song builds. From the intro all the way to the first chorus.
Billions very much reminds me of Lorde's Hard Feelings/Loveless. The chorus and the breakdown during the bridge have a similar melodramatic vibe to it. I don't know exactly what instrument that is, but I absolutely love it.
The layered vocals from the Trinity Choir in the outro are fantastic. It's there to give you an overwhelming effect. And it works!
I love the snare drum pattern throughout the song. Up until the outro, it was a clap, and once the Trinity Choir comes in, it's now a full-on snare drum.
And? Billions is the only song that fades out. Chef's kiss. It's done very beautifully. It’s not something I was expecting.
Conclusion
Caroline Polachek's Desire, I Want To Turn Into You is easily one of my top three albums of 2023. This album has great songwriting, vocal performance, and instrumentation. It's a great all-arounder and has something there for every type of listener.
Even though it's not my top album of this year, I strongly encourage everyone to give this album a listen. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Note: This was written after listening to Desire, I Want To Turn Into You by Caroline Polachek on Qobuz via Roon (24-bit, 44.1 kHz). I’ve also listened to this album on dozens of other occasions on Tidal with Hi-Fi Plus (24-bit, 44.1 kHz), and on Apple Music (24-bit, 441. kHz).