Description
Since her 2014 self-titled debut, New Zealander Aldous Harding’s music has always slid through the corners of any box it’s been plopped in, whether it was labeled gothic folk, chamber pop, or “fetching surrealism.” Her early lyrics read like Roman mythology, set against keening strings and choral melodies. Along the way, her live performances and music videos became more theatrical, marked by elaborate costumes and a vaudevillian talent for facial contortion. On her international breakthrough, 2019’s Designer, she wriggled into new forms still — a twitching imp in pilgrim garb, a manic clown — while her songs got stranger, funnier, breezier.
She remains in this off-kilter space throughout Warm Chris, her third collaboration with producer John Parish, who’s worked alongside PJ Harvey & many other indie pop creatives. If, for some, Harding’s modus operandi might sound a bit like a deep dive into the dress-up box, then her sheer, method actor-like intensity snuffs out that argument, along with the revealing glimpses of raw emotion.
