Track Listing
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bad guy
xanny
you should see me in a crown
all the good girls go to hell
wish you were gay
when the party’s over
8
my strange addiction
bury a friend
ilomilo
listen before i go
i love you
goodbye
Billie Eilish’s debut album is a cacophonic, interesting, jumbled selection of sounds and ideas. Yet somehow this reflection on the messiness of teenage life does just enough to carry this one through some of the simplistic compositions. I’ll admit, it took me a few full listens to really make my mind up on Billie Eilish’s debut but to be honest, there’s enough here to make for a really interesting album that’s certainly worth checking out.
After an interesting little introduction, the album kicks off with ‘bad guy’. Beginning with a simple, bass-driven melody, the drums suddenly end to showcase a vocal acapella before easing into a synth-driven off-key chorus. With horror-film vibes throughout, the album then eases its way through the vocal-heavy ‘xanny’ to one of my favourite songs from the album, ‘you should see me in a crown’.
From here, the rest of the album swings through different genres and styles, blending together various audio effects with simple, head-bopping melodies and backing tracks to show off the lyrics. Other personal favourites here include ‘wish you were gay’, ‘my strange addiction’ and ‘bury a friend’ which all manage to capture the right balance between simple beats and catchy melodies.
When you strip away all the audio effects and samples thrown into almost every track, there isn’t anything particularly outstanding showcased with the compositional work. Having said that, the audio snippets and effects do work well to cleverly take the attention away from the basic production work which helps move the attention across to the vocals which ultimately carries this one through to the end.
As a debut piece, Billie Eilish does a pretty good job making her mark. It won’t be for everyone, but for those after something a little more unusual and sprinkled with horror vibes, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is an album that certainly puts this 17 year old on the map.
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Verdict - 7/10
7/10