It would be unfair to say that Chemtrails Over The Country Club represents a sophomore slump for Lana Del Rey and Jack Antonoff as a duo. Especially unexpected is the use of autotune on ‘Tulsa Jesus Freak’, a hip-hop inspired flourish that meshes surprisingly well in such an otherwise stripped back album. Yet ‘Dance Till We Die’ features an uncharacteristic rock and blues influenced bridge right at its end. Lana’s vocals on the chorus of ‘White Dress’ are even more delicate and breathy than usual, to the point of almost being grating. Nonetheless, Chemtrails does feature some surprising moments of experimentalism. On Chemtrails, this criticism may be somewhat true for the song ‘Wild at Heart’, which sounds just a bit too much like a few songs off Norman Fucking Rockwell, particularly ‘How to Disappear’ and ‘Hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have’. Of particular note is album standout ‘Dark But Just A Game’, a playful, rock-tinged meditation on fame that seems to draw some influence sonically from Radiohead, as well as some of Lana’s earlier music.Ī frequent accusation levelled against Lana’s music is that much of it sounds more or less the same. It would be an exaggeration to label this an entirely folk/country album, however, as a few songs hearken back to her more pop-driven roots. Sonic and lyrical references to Joni Mitchell culminate in a cover of Mitchell’s ‘For Free’, with guest appearances from Zella Day and Weyes Blood, the latter of whom is quite literally given the last word on this album.Įspecially country tinged is the song ‘Breaking Up Slowly’, featuring uncredited vocals from Nikki Lane. It finds Lana increasingly disillusioned by the West Coast lifestyle, singing about her desire to leave LA on the rather low-key lead single ‘Let Me Love You Like A Woman’, and inviting a lover to come with her to Arkansas (inexplicably pronounced incorrectly) on ‘Tulsa Jesus Freak’.Ĭhemtrails finds Lana leaning deeper into folk and country influences first explored on 2017’s Lust For Life. Thematically, the album covers similar ground to her previous work, feeling like another chapter of a seemingly endless late summer road-trip through California and rural America.
It’s a rather short album at 45 minutes, in stark contrast to the 60-minute-plus runtimes of her two previous albums.
Considering some of her recent statements, it is also blissfully non-political. This album, released with very little fanfare, finds Lana at her most subdued, quiet and personal.
Well, that album is here and, if Chemtrails Over The Country Club shows anything it is that Lana Del Rey doesn’t feel the need to prove herself at all anymore. All of this arguably put even more pressure on the singer to effectively ‘prove herself’ on her newest album. In the meantime, Lana managed to repeatedly find herself in hot water for her frequently out of touch statements and behaviour, including the highly questionable “question for the culture” moment, and a saga involving a mask that may or may not be COVID-friendly.
For starters, the COVID pandemic delayed the release of the album to 2021. When it was announced that her next album, also produced by Jack Antonoff, would be released the following year expectations were understandably high. Lana Del Rey’s 2019 album Norman Fucking Rockwell was one of the most universally acclaimed albums of that year, if not the entire decade, and certainly the most acclaimed of the artist’s career.