One can't fault the output of former Girls' frontman Christopher Owens, who, despite being involved in one of the more tragic break-ups of a band, has kept himself busy. Even after quiet release of America and hints towards more music with Selfish Feelings, I didn't expect much more but was thrilled when the news broke of a new album with sixteen tracks to boot!
Owens' third solo album, Chrissybaby Forever (either taken from or inspiring his Twitter handle) is more of a direct follow-up to Girls' original album...called Album.
Unlike the more gospel-tinged A New Testament, Chrissybaby Forever is, in parts, a more stripped back effort. Opening with a short Intro, the album's opener Another Loser Fuck Up is a loud and fast track, in vain with Lust for Life which left me thinking the album was going to be just this.
Instead, the album continues to change into various different styles, whether it's the more tropical Me Oh My, Coffee and Tea being a two minute pop song with easily the catchiest beat, chorus and lyrics of any artist in a long time or Out of Bed (Lazy Head), where Owens' soft vocals are edited to give the track more a dream-pop quality, the album's first half can't be faulted as it's easily the most experimental and interesting of Owens' albums and only Father, Son and Holy Ghost from Girls' discography comes close to it.
The second half is mostly based around four songs which, if I didn't know better, were a fifteen minute single song split up. Whilst I enjoyed Waste Away and Susanna which are slow, atmospheric rock songs, the longer segments, When You Say I Love You and especially I Love You Like I Do go on for far too long, with either simplistic lyrics or, in the latter's case, one chorus, as the lyrics say on the file "repeat to infinity".
This ruins the pace of the album, which at nearly an hour, is the longest solo album from Owens' releases and really didn't need it. The bizarre part is that, as an album from beginning to end, Chrissybaby Forever is a chore to get through. With sixteen tracks and a quarter of the album dedicated to a boring segment, it's not as accessible as Owens' two earlier releases and the amount of tracks make it more of a trudge than the similarly timed Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Individually, the tracks shine more and there's easily more stronger material here than on A New Testament and Lysandre. But whereas those albums flowed at a tighter and more concise pace, Chrissybaby Forever is a difficult but rewarding listen.
Long, at times a bit, dare I say self indulgent but individually, another solid and good album from Owens, who after just two years and three albums later, is quickly cementing himself, as an artist to watch out for.
7/10
H
@Retcon_Nation
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