23 Caroline Polachek: Desire, I Want to Turn Into You

I am my father’s daughter in the end
He says, “Watch your ego, watch your head, girl
You’re so smart, so talented
But now the water’s turning red
And it’s all your fault, and it’s all your mess

Welcome to my Island

Ah good, enough of that privileged bollocks like Olivia Rodrigo, time to hear from some real artists who have clawed their way up from the very bottom through sheer force of talent. When you’re willing to pull yourself up by your bootstraps like Caroline Polachek (daughter of James, classical musician, MD at Harvard, PHD at Berkley, taught Chinese History at Columbia and Princeton) then anyone can.

I’m being flippant, of course – I know! Me!? Can you imagine! – I just wanted to highlight how any discussion of supposed ‘privilege’ is a bit of a box of wasps, and a lot of people are going to have to get stung. Just be aware that you’re unlikely to sting just the person you intend to complain about if you open that box, and also that advantages exist beyond appearing on Disney shows growing up.

There was a comment left on the Nicky Wire review that opened this year’s list that called my criticism of Wire’s politics as a “tad bit disingenuous” because “what keeps people invested in actual politics is reading theory… and taking *direct action*”. And I was like… yeah, mate, agree with you on that last part. But what exactly do you think I’m doing here? Sure, my occasional Marxist shitposting has seen me being labelled as perhaps the prominent voice on class consciousness and political mobilisation in the early stages of the 21st century – and if you did count a subscription to this blog as “reading theory” then I’m sure nobody would argue (don’t forget to hit subscribe) – but this is a list of the best music of the year. There are… other places to go if you want to read more dedicated political discourse (almost said ‘better’. Settled on ‘other’). Sometimes, ever so rarely, I make a post or so that isn’t about music. I’ll write about wrestling instead. Much like I’m not ranking these albums in terms of how likely they are to get people politically motivated, I’m not ranking them in terms of their relationships with power. I’m ranking them in terms of how hard they slap. And Polachek’s 2023 album slaps pretty dang hard.

‘Desire…’ is a bit of a funny one though. I like it. I really like it. It’s a pretty incredible album. But the blanket fellating of it kind of baffles me a tiny bit. It’s an extraordinarily well done art pop record, with songs that are extremely strong across the board. But that’s kind of… it, to me…? I don’t think the music ever gets to any next level ingenuity or skin searing power, and the (still laudable) experimentation and stylistic flourishes to me don’t really add anything to the overall songs other than a bit of butter on bacon. I once said of Polachek’s previous band Chairlift that “I can’t shake the feeling that they’ve somehow reeled in their more deranged ideas”, which I still kind of get. Hey, but I’m arguing why it’s number twenty three rather than number three here, it’s still an incredible album better than all but twenty two records this year. Maybe I’m just weird for not busting all of my nuts all over it? Maybe I’m wrong? 🤷

I’m not though. I’m never wrong.

James Poluchek died of COVID in April 2020, aged 75. James and Caroline’s relationship was strained enough that many obituaries and dedications that I read state that he only had one daughter (while also giving out Caroline’s sister’s personal email, if you were interested). He apparently never approved of Caroline’s music because it was “too pop and too commercial, and therefore less authentic because it wasn’t insurrectionist or radical enough”. Seriously? Sounds like my kind of guy. He also struggled with depression and bipolar disorder, and Caroline remarked how he would have appreciate how the verse in Welcome to My Island:

did justice to the situation in its honesty. It felt important to sort of include this idea of hereditary mania and imperfection, and also empathy in that way – we’re always sort of treading water our whole life, right up till the end

The Guardian 23.01.13

And when all of this is taken into account, there really is only one final thing to consider: “Gen Z’s Kate Bush”?? Mate, Caroline was born in 1985, you might as well call me “Gen Z’s Michael Parenti“. Which I do, yes, but people laugh when I do it!

2016 #86 (with Chairlift)

Metacritic: 94

See what I mean? Like, come on, yeah? Come on!

Legit Bosses: 2