Review: Lana Del Rey - Born To Die
On the radio, on the radio. Sweet like cinnamon.
Even the most deplorable of sentiments can be made enjoyable by the right kind of charisma. And if anyone has the charisma capable of pulling off the relentless refrain of MoneySexDeathGlamourMoneySexMoneySexDeath in Born To Die then, bless her, it’s Lana. While the album sounds like a lush womanly thing it has the petulant, febrile heart of a Bonnie & Clyde obsessed, heiress-adolescent. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing by the way, but it sure does take charisma.
Sonically it has shades of PJ Harvey (Blue Jeans), one monstrously beautiful Bond-theme audition (Million Dollar Man), lots of subtle, sexy trip-hop and the kind of fluttery Bardot/Birkin/Paradis/Gainsbourg/Nixey vocals that crawl inside the most private parts of your brain and light a long, cool cigarette.
Like a heady perfume it can all become slightly overpowering and by track 9 or 10 I do find myself flagging a bit. I suspect in the long-run this won’t be a ‘play-it-start-to-finish’ but a ‘dip-in-and-out-of-it’ album for me. But that’s ok, I feel the same about lots of artists that I love.
Highlights: Video Games, Off To The Races, Blue Jeans, Dark Paradise, Radio, National Anthem, Million Dollar Man, Lucky Ones.
Lowlights: Diet Mountain Dew, Carmen
Rating: 9/10
Closing thoughts: This is the start, not the end of the story.
