The Daily Spin, May 13
Hatchie | Keepsake
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: Keepsake (2019)
Artist: Hatchie
Link:
Hatchie feels most strongly as though Taylor Swift took on dream pop, elements of shoegaze and a beachy sort of inflection worming their way into an album that, for all its illusions of depth, feels surprisingly surface-level upon further reflection.
That’s not to say the music doesn’t work well - the Swift comparison is not made lightly, and as someone who adores both dream pop and shoegaze, I think I’m qualified enough to make the statement that she’s pretty damn good at embodying both genres.
Where she loses me is the lyricism, shallow and underdeveloped. ‘Unwanted Guest’ stands out as my favorite track from the album, but even on that one, her words about love feel trite, the same stories we’ve heard a thousand times rehashed and taped back together like homework eaten by a dog.
It’s a shame, because it squanders really strong potential, but that’s sort of the nature of the beast - sometimes it doesn’t always come to fruition.
Rating: 7.6/10
Best Tracks: Obsessed; Unwanted Guest
Worst Tracks: Without A Blush; Stay With Me