Album Review: Owl Eyes - Nightswim

Owl Eyes' bio mentions “duality” more than once. She seems fixated on the idea of two ideas co-mingling or informing each other. How does this relate to her music, though? Production on Nightswim is quite lush and cinematic, indicating a sense of vision or scope.

Brooke Addamo (aka Owl Eyes) revels in the big picture, and so she has created an album light on details. Where she gives in to broad dramatic strokes, she leaves the nuts and bolts of good songwriting behind. The duality that precedes her written reputation seems to be missing the other half. An absence of something, in this case a deeper understanding of the numerous pop styles she's flirting with here, does not count. Her lyrical depth is lacking, and the looping chorus on Hurricane grates and breaks you away from an otherwise arresting piece. Diamonds In Her Eyes and Golden Lies suffers from the same fate.

Some gutsy work on Ivory really lifts the mood and it's a slick piece that starts incredibly strong and doesn't hang around to get old. Addamo moves through some nice Italo disco moments on Salt Water, but the whole song feels like an experiment. There's some Burial vocal manipulation in there and some cushy neon production during the second half that doesn't fit.

For a pop record, the hooks are surprisingly weak. Perhaps it's the vocals. They hover in the background and leave the chord and beat sequences hanging there. Find Out is a ripping Roisin Murphy homage that is one of the few songs on the record that a vocal track actually seems necessary.

Nightswim feels like a dance pop record from a session vocalist trying to make it on her own rather than a breakthrough release from a prodigious talent.