Music > Album Reviews

U.S Girls - In A Poem Unlimited

09/02/18

'You've been sleeping with one eye open because he could always come back, ya know?' So begins Velvet 4 Sale, the opening track to U.S.Girls' sixth full-length release. Chilling themes of domestic abuse spiked with bitter consequence are still clearly on the agenda. But whereas 2015's Half-Free employed mid-fi sampling as the dusty backdrop to Meg Remy's vivid storytelling and powerful messagology, In A Poem Unlimited invites in a host of collaborators, including Toronto-based instrumental collective The Cosmic Range.

The result is a moody, more mysterious mix that, as well as re-examining fear in dysfunctional relationships, manages to express guilt over environmental economics (Rage of Plastics) and despair at political foreign policy (M.A.H.). Rosebud, with its cautionary fantasy performed over a slinky synth, precedes an Incidental Boogie that attempts to balance control against the fear of solitude. Sex and religion mix metaphors with aplomb in both the beat-driven Pearly Gates and the slow-burning L-Over. Finally the buffet of sounds concludes in an unrelenting disco beat in Time, leaving us to dare to believe that all forms of abusive power can and will eventually receive just desert.

A powerful collection from U.S. Girls that will have you dissecting each and every lyrical twist with forensic admiration.

8/10