“Everyone’s a bit fucked-up, but they think they’re okay…” – are the first words sung by Alex Lahey – in her trademark effortlessly laidback, conversational style – on this album’s shiny opener Good Time.
Lahey, who is queer and a daughter of migrants, has said that “living in a world that wasn’t made for you” teaches you how to laugh in the face of adversity and her charming third album is littered with humorous takes on traditionally shit scenarios such as two exes getting married, separately (Congratulations), and fake friendships (“I bet you when they’re on their own/ They’re shit talkin’ all the way home”). Earworm alert: that Shit Talkin’ chorus is impossible to shake!
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How’s this for inventive rhyming!? “Puts me in an awful mood to test my social aptitude.” And the lyrical gifts keep coming: “Michael Bolton on repeat/ Give me something else to eat” (The Sky Is Melting: a cautionary tale about the overconsumption of weed gummies).
Bass-driven, penultimate standout They Wouldn’t Let Me In marks the first time Lahey has opened up about her queer teenage years in song. Then a repeated phrase (“I don’t want it all to be the way it was before it changed”) drives Lahey’s point home during the closing title track, which concludes with some downright dirty guitar distortion.
Self-described as “a collection of songs that embrace the absurdities of life and existing on the fringe”, The Answer Is Always Yes is ebullient and infinitely relatable.
Release date: May 19
