Lizzy McAlpine’s 'Older' Is to Be Handled With Care
Photo: baeth
Lizzy McAlpine’s highly anticipated third studio album, Older has arrived and honestly, I cannot find the right words to explain the whirlwind of emotions it has left me with. If there is one sentence to define the project, let it be from one of its first lyrics, “I think we can make it, I hope that I’m right.”
Older is an introspective, honest read-through of a twenty-something-year-old’s journal, completely incomplete with unfinished sentences, ripped-out pages, ink smudges, and the crumpled paper texture left from tears of anger, joy, frustration, and sadness. Across 14 songs, McAlpine deals with love in all of its forms—falling in love, falling out of love, the conflict of the former, and the guilt of the latter.
In the introductory track “Elevator Music,” which is no longer than an elevator ride itself, McAlpine teleports the listener into the world of the album, one that is soft, eerie, and trance-like, existing in the blurry space between two floors. She asks, “Can we stay like this forever?” hinting at the narrative to come, where girl meets boy, girl outgrows boy, but girl is too scared to leave boy.
In “Come Down Soon,” McAlpine encounters a certain someone, feeling equal parts excitement and doubt as she chooses to leave with him, unknowing what is to unfold. The finger-plucked strings accompanied by the haunting white noise in “Like It Tends To Do” expresses the gut feeling about someone that is typically always right, while “Staying” tells a relatable bittersweet anecdote of going to sleep next to a partner knowing that you will break their heart, but for now you stay with them, and let the guilt eat away at you.
While much of Older alludes to the idea of outgrowing a relationship, McAlpine does not shy away from writing about the intricacies of growing into oneself, which often comes at the expense of some of life’s most uncomfortable and difficult situations. Standout track “Drunk, Running” deals with the nuances of being in a relationship with someone battling addiction. Its use of ghostly echoes, faint recordings of laughs, and orchestral strings feels like rewinding a cassette tape and being reminded of the happy moments, shortly before shutting the camera off and facing reality. In the thirteenth track “March,” a heavy number with importance to McAlpine, the songwriter honors her father who passed away on March 13, 2020, while figuring out how to make sense of the grief that remains.
As a whole, Older is instrumentally mellow and lyrically intricate, built upon a myriad of subtle sounds with lasting impact—a creaking piano, the static of silence, the collection of dust in an empty room. The album is heavily driven by acoustics, allowing for McAlpine’s vocal talent to shine through. Sonically, a majority of its tracks are piano-led, though there are several pop-infused punches, particularly in “All Falls Down,” a pop-folk panic attack about losing time, and “You Forced Me To,” which navigates a fuzzy state of being through melodic triplets and keys fit for an old-timey folk tune.
Listen to Older below:
