Zeroes: Declan McKenna
With the rise of September came an exemplary second album by Declan McKenna, Zeros. His 2017 album What Do You Think About The Car? was empowering and poppy, and though the latter could be said about “Zeros,” “Zeros” is ultimately much sadder and significantly more experimental.
The album starts out strong with “You Better Believe!!!,” a song that compels you to get up and dance while you admire Declan McKenna's impressive falsetto. The upbeat beginning of the song swings into an Elton John-like soft but still upbeat piano piece and back into an upbeat portion flawlessly, before ending with a feeling of emptiness and energeticness. Furthermore, “You Better Believe!!!” completely masters the happy-instrumental-with-sad-lyrics concept.
However, the next track, “Be an Astronaut,” doesn’t even try to hide its anguished and exhausted tone. Yet even when McKenna sounds defeated and angry, he articulates his point beautifully. With clear Bowie influences, the lyrics of this song complement his heart-wrenching and astonishing vocals as his guitarist wails in the background. This song is depressing and gorgeous, similar to the next song on the album.
Up next on the album, another Bowie inspired piece: “The Key to Life on Earth.” The timbre of McKenna’s voice paired with synth completely changes the energy of the album up to that point, creating a feeling of embitterment. At the same time, the song is upbeat and funky yet depressing. The lyrics “'Cause dirty streets these days are graced by Nikes of black and green, And headstrong boys in chinos barely grasp what that could mean. And they lie-Then men that wrung us dry, The boys who poked your eye, The common fool, the walk to school for you and I,” highlight McKenna’s feelings of exhaustion caused by people who didn't know anything about him, which is relatable to everyone.
His next song on the album, “Beautiful Faces” provides just as much funk as the previous song while it entices you to dance. It’s just as I wrote on my original notes on the album: a banger. His lyrics, though repetitive, are just as relatable as the previous song, however, the funky and climatic instrumental break alone makes the song worth listening to. “Beautiful Faces” is definitely my favorite song on the album.
“Daniel, You’re Still a Child” continues the funk but adds a sense of sadness. The lyric “You spent ten days in bed when I asked you why” portrays his friend's depression in a tasteful way that shows its intensity and despair. McKenna in turn shows how he doesn’t relate through his excessively narcissistic lyrics. The instrumentals and vocals contrast the somber lyrics with an upbeat and poppy tone.
“Emily,” has a nice swing, but it’s lyrics inflame me. He talks about how unfavorable of a boyfriend he is while basically blaming her for his actions. He insults this girl for doing basic things while playing cool synth that makes you want to forget the lyrics completely. As angry as those lyrics make me, I’m a sucker for some pretty guitar.
The next song, “Twice Your Size,” is good, but nothing special. It has a nice swing and I love the intro, but overall the song feels like every Dayglow song I’ve ever heard. The lyrics are also a bit too Alex Cameron-inspired for me to call them original or special. I did enjoy this song, but it feels like a filler on the album in every way except for the instrumentals and the screaming. That part was chaotic and cathartic in a truly astounding way.
The intro to “rapture” makes me nothing but uncomfortable- in a good way. It is intriguing and flows into the verse in a surprising but smooth way. This is a song that you want to dance to. Its funky falsetto in the chorus is absolutely fantastic to listen to, and I also love the drums in this song, though they can be a bit repetitive in parts. This song incorporates the same cathartic screaming that “Twice Your Size” did, but in a much more experimental and enjoyable way.
“Sagittarius A*,” was dishearteningly my least favorite on the album. It wasn’t bad. It was extremely average, and somehow felt too long at 2 minutes, which is never a good sign. I did like the vocals in this song, but not much else.
Almost the opposite can be said about “Eventually, Darling.” I loved this song. The constantly changing tempo made it easy to listen to while keeping the experimental aspects of the rest of the album. It wasn’t the best song on the album, but I think that it makes a pretty good ending to an overall great album.
Declan McKenna's album “Zeros” was a wonderful album that I definitely recommend, and will be adding to my daily playlists. I deeply enjoyed the album’s sad but poppy tone as well as its experimental instrumentation. Though I wish some parts were more out of the ordinary, ”Zeros” was a fantastic and cathartic album.
MILLER SIMON ‘22 (THEY/THEM)
Miller is a junior boarding student, and an assisting web editor to the Woodward Post. This is their second year on the Woodward Post, and they enjoy writing about music and social issues. In their free time, they draw, play piano, and relentlessly quote Sidney Gish songs.
Contact Miller at miller.simon@indiansprings.org