I have never been the biggest Post Malone fan, I first remember hearing him when he was one of the biggest artists of the late 2010s and I would hear Rockstar every time I ate a meal at my college’s dining hall. I also had friends in college who were big into Post. I even have friends now who are big into Post and said friends were the main reason I decided to pick this album to review. Post Malone has been in my life for a long time, yet I have not had a ton of hope for a direction I would be interested in from him. That is until this new album, AUSTIN. While still quite flawed, I would argue that AUSTIN is a huge step in the right direction for Post Malone, due to notable changes in sound that pay off more often than they do not.
Like how Twelve Carat Toothache started with a track composed of piano and not much else, AUSTIN starts with a track with guitar and not much else. Unlike the opener of Toothache, Don’t Understand is quaint and even a little sweet, with it lyrically peeking into Post’s issues with love and self worth going into a relationship. The main issue on this track is one of my biggest issues with the entire album. On the chorus Post does this sheep like vocal inflection where he quickly cuts in and out on a single note. It is disjointed, not in a cool and glitchy way, but instead in an awkward and mildly annoying way. It almost sounds like a failed mic check, minus the loud ringing of one. He uses this inflection multiple times throughout the album and not once is it even a little bit easy to sit through. Thankfully the track is otherwise fine.
I mentioned that in Don’t Understand that Post uses a guitar. This was not an isolated occurrence. This is, sort of, Post doing a rock album. I say sort of because the signature worbly alt pop that put him on the map is still often here, or at least heavy elements of it are. Something Real takes those elements and puts them over a chorus with a melodic and anthemic chorus, with choral background vocals and heavy drums where Post begs for “something real” in terms of love and relationships. I genuinely hate to make this comparison but it sound like something from Evolve-era Imagine Dragons but better.
The track Landmine combines a pounding reverb-drowned drum with extremely echoed, somewhat distant vocals to also have that “Evolve but good” sound to it. Landmine, as alright as it is, also represents another issue the album. Some of the tracks either are by the numbers Post Malone or lose momentum during their runtime and become
by the numbers Post Malone. Minus the anthemic elements this song does almost nothing for me sonically. It has an extremely basic chord structure that is only sort of there. Not to mention the guitar is mixed pretty low, especially on the chorus. It just feels wimpy overall. Now, this may possibly be to make room for the lyricism. The problem is the lyrical content is just retreading old ground. The gist is that Post gives into temptation and addiction, and regrets it. It is a real premise, but it’s tad tired. It is immediately followed by the track Green Thumb which is like an early era Ed Sheeran track, but with a more rock-leaning sound. It has an acoustic guitar melody that carries through the entire track which is nice, albeit a tad underwhelming. It leads into a chorus that adds a couple of bass notes to the chorus, and is melancholic overall, talking about the flowers mentioned earlier in the song now “on his deathbed”. The issue is the sheep like vocal delivery from earlier rears its ugly head on the chorus. It is distracting and makes it harder to focus on the genuinely poetic lyrics.
Speaking of tracks that sound like Ed Sheeran, I might as well talk about the lead single Chemical, since it contains some of the album’s strengths and weaknesses as well. It sounds like if Ed Sheeran performed a slightly drum oriented, atmospheric dance track. It has a Take On Me-esque drum beat that gives it an almost nostalgic vibe. The good news is that it doesn’t feel like retreading that ground in the vein of As It Was by Harry Styles, which is essentially just a sonic ripoff. I enjoy the track overall since I’m a sucker for dance pop, and it’s well produced enough. It is like one of those tracks you can have a movie moment where you can dance around in your room. The only issue is that it does have the sheep inflections a bit in the verses.
The following track, Novacandy, opens with sugary synths and a reverby vocal performance that attempts to be grandiose. Not crazy about the opening moments, but it leads into a trap oriented pop ballad that oozes with desperate determination. The production being the way it is makes sense considering it’s about Post’s issues with drugs and alcohol, which is a recurring theme on the album. It actually feels genuine and quite nice overall.
One thing I wondered with an album I had so many mixed emotions on towards the end of it was, “would it stick the landing?”. The short answer is very much yes. Laugh It Off not only sounds amazing, but is packed with genuine emotion. It takes a chunk of the sonic palette of the album and takes it to the heights I wished it had reached for most of the album. It has a beautiful folky guitar part that post sings about hiding emotions for the sake of others and how he always will “laugh it off” for them. The chord structure is just more interesting than most of the others on the album, and is accompanied by a beautiful piano section. It is like Post is signing on a small stage with the spotlight on him, an audience of his family and friends are there watching him pour his heart out to them and vent so they can better understand him. This feeling only ramps up as the song progresses as more drums, reverb and guitars are added to layer the song. It is a bit of a simple way of doing it but it is executed well. It wraps the end of the album in a neat bow.
This album being wrapped in a bow at the end actually leads to an easy metaphor for me to describe my overall feelings. This album is like that gift you get from a relative that is not quite what you wanted. Thankfully, like many of those gifts, this is fine anyway and had a lot of thought put into it. I would have wanted Post to improve the sound he currently had, stay in his pop rap lane. What was released instead was continuing the alt pop from Twelve Carat Toothache, incorporating pop and folk rock into it, and keeping the signature Post commercial appeal. I have never been a Post Malone guy, but this album has me hopeful for the future of Austin, hopefully next time with less sheep inflections and dull moments.
6/10
