Album review: Ashe - The Girl Of Your Dreams
On her fourth solo album, The Girl Of Your Dreams, Ashe takes us into a world of vintage Hollywood glamour and dreamy orchestral arrangements. Before the album’s release, she teased the upcoming songs by curating a Spotify playlist and creating Pinterest boards named “Dreamcore” and “songs from a dream, where blue hour never ends”. Let’s have a look at the songs and see if she managed to accomplish what her mood board set out to do.
The first song Stop The Wedding! pulled me in on the first listen when it came out as a single before the full album was released. The beginning strings make it sound like the opening of a movie, before the song switches into a more upbeat verse. The thought behind the song was getting a note from your future self on a wedding day and having a feeling like you shouldn’t go through with it. The whole song sort of explodes with the bridge, when it comes to a halt with the tempo slowing down, as if the person singing was gathering courage, just to pick up the speed again and explode into a big final chorus. The idea of the whole song is brilliant and a great start to the album.
She also created Live-In Studio versions of some of the songs.
Lasso The Moon is another one with great instrumentals and a ridiculously catchy chorus. The lyrics about the expectations we have of love are almost sarcastic and describe the complicated relationship with knowing what to want. And then Ashe delivers a good old key change that just adds another layer to the song's final build-up.
Stardust sounds a little different than the rest of the record to me. The verses have a more modern pop sound, but the song still manages to find its place among other songs with a more vintage atmosphere. She has also mentioned that this song is a love song to the chapter of her musical life when she worked with Finneas on The Favors’ first album.
Love Bomb’s title seems like it speaks for itself, but Ashe turned the phrase around and inward, talking about love bombing yourself because you’re the one who really needs it. I really like the phrasing and the way Ashe delivers the message here. Once again, a bit of an expectation at this point of the album, we have a very catchy chorus. Meanwhile the following Blue Hour brings in a slower guitar sound, with lyrics about moments and relationships that eventually come to an end.
Swan Lake is where things get really interesting. The song has many layers, the instrumental sounds like something you'd hear in a fairytale, and the chorus almost makes me feel like I'm listening to a musical, yet the lyrics hint that it’s about the famous tragic ballet. The slow-down in the interlude is beautiful, and then the song just ends so abruptly that it underlines the tragedy of the story, with the actual Swan Lake ballet melody. Ashe herself has revealed that it’s her favourite track on the album and the one she is most excited to perform live.
Sunburn is one of the sadder moments on the album, with beautiful strings that make it feel like something from a black-and-white movie. It's about two people who see the same situation completely differently (I think of the kite, You think of the wind … I think of the sun, You think of the burn). It says a lot about how differently we can experience the same relationship. Sunburn and the following Always September are, according to Ashe, the saddest songs on the album. It’s a slow song that sounds right out of a moviem and even though the tempo might be slow, the sound is big thanks to the great instrumental arrangements.
The title track, The Girl Of Your Dreams, sits towards the end of the album. It strips things back to “just” a piano arrangement. The song is about not really believing that you could be the person someone else dreams of being with, even when they tell you otherwise with heartfelt lyrics like “How long 'til you wake up, how long 'til you see, I'm not who you think of when you're falling asleep?”. It feels intimate, like reading a personal letter.
Sweet Caroline has another one of those big melodies that seem to come naturally to Ashe. The song is about betrayal, which is quite a contrast to what the title might make you expect based on what comes to mind with Neil Diamond’s song by the same name. It's catchy, dramatic and fits right in with the album's overall sound.
The last song on the album and the second single, titled Funeral, might be one of the most beautiful love songs I've heard in a long time. It's about loving someone and being devoted to them until the very end. For such a big album about a complicated relationship with love itself, this song is the perfect closer that makes you believe in love no matter what. If there's someone who knows how to write a song about love, whether it's good or bad, it's Ashe.
This record just works together so well. There have been millions of songs written about love, yet Ashe manages to give a fresh perspective with an old-soul sound and aesthetic. What this album personally makes me want to do is play it on repeat, put on one of those dresses they have on display and dance around the TWA Hotel. Another thing I have absolutely no doubt about is that this is gonna be a whole new experience when listened to on vinyl.
After reading this whole thing, it must be no surprise that, for me, this album is one of the top albums of the year. If you like a bit of musical drama, beautiful instrumental arrangements and masterfully crafted songs about love, The Girl Of Your Dreams is definitely worth a listen for you.
Favourite songs: Stop the Wedding!, Swan Lake, Funeral
