The Pop Corporation

There’s no-one quite like Aldous Harding. From the lyrical content, the jarring but hot-as-hell dancing, the switching of voices, the costumes, the arresting videos… and most importantly, the utterly unique approach in her brilliant songwriting.

So, we’re here with her newest album, and the words are once again twisting and turning, all delivered in Harding’s inimitable style, veering from half-lit dreamstates to downright menacing.

Just the way we like it.

Though broadly folk music, what has made Harding so wonderful, is the filtering through of other source material and on this album, there’s echoes of dub and dance music (although not explicitly so), alongside the funky country shuffle of the better songs on Neil Young’s ‘Harvest’, as well as musique concrete and the music of Moondog.

And yet, despite all the unusualness, she’s as catchy as anyone else on the planet right now, while simultaneously and world building all the while.

The lead single from the album saw us clinging on for dear life while she sang of John Cale eating rice, reminding us that she once sang about showing a ferret an egg – but aside from these gnarly lines is someone who can write concisely and wonderfully, letting songs unfurl in their own way, sometimes taking unexpected musical sharp turns.

Aldous Harding is many things, but she’s never ever dull.

Through the new album, the music is inviting, but then, if you imagine that ghosts are invited into people’s life through a seance or ouija board, then Harding lies somewhere between these two feelings.

You can’t help but try and pick her lyrics to pieces, as unhelpful and futile as it is – when she coos “you laugh at me for keeping feathers but you don’t see me helping down the naked owl,” you figure it’s best to just enjoy the strangeness and mystery of it all.

And that’s because, away from all the riddles and abstract shapes, there’s a rawness to Harding’s performance that pulls you in, and hard. In many ways, Harding makes extreme, heavy music. She’s also super funny, but it’s your job to work out when you’re allowed to smile, and when you want to furrow your brow and hope she’s alright.

See, there’s a lot of talk about how ‘other’ she is, but the music, the lyrics, the contorting, the theatre of her performance is despite all the oddness, deeply affecting and human – that’s why the people who love her are borderline obsessed.

On this album, it’s up their with the fabulous ‘Designer’, and with each lunge and lurch, you’re going to end up following her as she burrows ever deeper into whatever world she’s building.

Cherish artists like this – we don’t get many of them.