Train on the Island contains much of Aldous Harding’s most interesting…everything; her most interesting singing, songwriting and arrangements.
The bond Harding has maintained with producer friend John Parish, spurred by his guidance, has followed 2022’s Warm Chris with a ‘yes, and’; where much of her previous album’s music spoke as loudly as she, Train on the Island focuses on lean instrumentation cooked up by Harding, Parish and a group of caring session musicians.
Her performances range, wonderfully, from Kiwi-accented confidence (see Coats) to tonal mumbles that sound like backmasking, like a natural version of Radiohead’s Kid A. She grew up with music, but pursued it on the strength of her voice.
Her writing, led by the untirable strangeness of her chords, is unusual and emotive. Oftentimes, Harding passes on the earth of themes one would expect from a successful, independent singer-songwriter, though the harsh breaks of love and loneliness – being with lover and being without – are explored and duetted with H. Hawkline on Venus in the Zinnia, fit with a twee Americana guitar, a brief bleeping synth overlay, and jaunting piano improv to echo contrasts.
The album announces on arrival that Aldous Harding will not conform to universalism – incidentally, not caring about likeability makes her pretty darn likeable. She sings “I’m not afraid like you’re not gay / and you’re not old like I’m on the spectrum” on I Ate the Most, which is soon accentuated by the line “I can prove that I ate the most ‘cause I did”; sung sassily, soulfully, and strangely. There reaches a surreal point in which it’s clear she’s singing about her childhood (“I’m nine and I love my mommy”, go figure), which overloads Harding as she approaches her conflictions. If it isn’t a song about patience, its persistently unchanging Rhodes will choose the lie – it’s much nicer than the overpowering, ear-pinching Rhodes of Worms.
There is a collision of low-end EQ and cymbals on If Lady Does It; it feels like an unknown hand squeezing tighter on your shoulder. Harding’s anger squeezes her, waiting for it to get the better of her, waiting to snap, waiting to lose control of her decision-making, all the while performing a pretty nifty Kate Bush routine.
The album isn’t vastly melodic. I’d argue Harding’s writing does the lifting usually reserved for melodies, but one listen to One Stop and one may wish more tracks were as vibrant. The song does contain one of her best exposés on herself, exploring her privacy as a successful artist, namedropping meeting John Cale; her version of what she is to her fans. We get to the really good stuff once her soulful “why wouldn’t I wanna meet ya?” begins, later reprised on San Francisco. The song is built on a Peanuts-style piano arrangement which bleeds into tropical island guitar, sort of bossa nova lite.
Aldous Harding is unlike any other singer-songwriter. She can hold her cards to her chest, and still appear as emotive as some cookie cutter ballad singer, or she can detail her distinct themes.
Something always has a hold on her (says What Am I Gonna Do?: the pressures of God, the pressures of age?); if the album cover is anything to go by, she certainly seems to be a little blue. This is what forms such an emotional performer-listener connection; the brilliance of her lyrics, and the quaintness with which she addresses them.
Best tracks – I Ate the Most – One Stop – If Lady Does It.
Rating – 7 out of 10
