Label: Sub Pop
Released: 13th September 2024
Suki Waterhouse is having a lot of fun. Or, at least, so it seems on ‘Memoir of a Sparklemuffin’, her second album. Even when she’s vehemently angry, boiling over with frustration and barely contained eye rolls, she seems to be grinning – there’s a weightlessness to the album’s eighteen tracks, a delicious blast of fresh air that breezes past and reassures you that all will be well.
An ode to everything that got her to this point in her life, ‘Memoir of a Sparklemuffin’ rehashes musings both old and new. ‘Blackout Drunk’, in all its doo-wop glory, is teasing and smiling but raging lyrically, upbeat and shrugging an annoying drunk ex off sonically. ‘Model, Actress, Whatever’ clamours not to be boxed in but to just be – yet, it seems to deliver this message with the sage knowledge that whatever happens, it is fine, and she’s content. The dream-like haze of that track, in particular, is enrapturing.
Initially, ‘Gateway Drug’ gives the illusion of the album unfolding far away – distorted guitars are just out of reach. As the album delicately unfurls, everything moves closer, the shrouds of mystery dissolve. It’s as though Suki is hidden behind layers that are slowly peeled back until you realise she’s been showing you who she is all along, bit by bit. It’s a journey of authenticity – documenting who she is with every gorgeous, ethereal vocal and spellbinding soundscape.
It’s a relinquishing of control and a refusal to sweat the small stuff. She recounts tales of love and loss and hurt and anger, and sets them free. There is no room for anything beyond existing in this romantic, tranquil space. No matter what has befallen her before, it doesn’t matter. ‘Memoir of a Sparklemuffin’ is a nod to everything that has come before, but a sigh of relief that it is past. ‘To Love’ offers a soft, mystical ending in its celebration of love, and seems to be a final glimpse of an unravelled, unapologetic Suki Waterhouse, now looking solely to the future.
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