Album Review: Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence

You may not believe this, but Ultraviolence, Lana Del Rey’s sophomore album, is even sadder than Born to Die. There’s a world-weariness permeating the album, from Woman Left Lonely-styled opener ‘Cruel World’ to classic heartbreaker ‘Old Money’. It makes sense: Del Rey has been through the wringer of media and popular opinion since before she even released her debut and has been showing a few cracks of late. There’s less swagger and bravado and even more reflection than usual here (although if you do want swagger, head right to ‘Money Power Glory’ and the perfectly-titled ‘Fucked My Way up to the Top’).

The overall sound differs, too. The fact that Black Keys’ guitarist Dan Auerbach helped produce the album might have something to with its sun-drenched 1970s bad trippiness. There’s a truckload of reverb and distortion, giving a washed-out, even shoe-gaze feeling to tracks like depressive love ballad ‘Black Beauty’. It actually seems typically contrarian of Del Rey to produce something more Janis Joplin than Grimes at the point where it seems pretty obvious that guitar-driven music is going to be terminally uncool for the next decade or so...

Click here to read Louisa Kasza's full review of Ultraviolence by Lana Del Rey.