A Record Doesn't Have to Mean Something

There’s a quote I think about a lot, by the writer Donald Barthelme. “What must whacky mode do,” he said, to a student, “break their hearts.” You can apply this idea to the music of Aldous Harding. Her work is funny, surreal, and a little bit sad, but it is often referred to as “oblique,” “difficult,” because while her music is funny, surreal, and a little bit sad, you can never put your finger on just why. Harmonically, lyrically. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about: “Weight of the Planets,” a song from 2019’s Designer, is full of all of these winking asides. I.e.- “glad I pulled the reins on this thing when I did!” but then the image is never filled out. We have no idea what she’s talking about. There’s something incomplete about her songwriting. But we, or I should really say I feel something inside of what she’s saying. Train on the Island, her fifth album, is whacky and it breaks our hearts, pro forma.