zzzahara - ‘Spiral Your Way Out’ review

Album review

9 Jan

The first time I listened to Spiral Your Way Out, I was taking a train from Manchester down to London on a gloomy December’s day, a total contrast to the setting of this album’s creation: Highland Park, Los Angeles. Staring out of the window watching the scenery slip past and wishing I had this record to listen to a year ago when I was going through a break-up. zzzahara’s third solo album, released with Lex Records, is a release of pent-up frustrations that perfectly captures how it feels to be a little bit messy in your twenties: dream-pop melodies punctured with angsty lyrics that easily wind up stuck in your head.

For zahara, Spiral Your Way Out marks a shift in their creative process. Whereas their sophomore release, Tender, was self-produced and mostly recorded in their bedroom, this album showcases a number of fruitful collaborations and really fine-tunes their sound. Producers such as Jorge Elbrecht, Sarah Tudzin, and Alex Craig worked with zahara on this record, which impressively only took three months to make.

Navigating a heavy breakup is arguably one of the most emotionally dense experiences a person can have, and acts as the backbone of this record’s narrative. The album’s opening track ‘It didn’t mean nothing’ portrays feelings of resentment towards an ex, and the repetitive lyrics suggest that Zzahara’s can’t get them out of their head. Their big scream followed by a wave of thrashing guitars conjures a strong image of someone rolling around in their bed screaming into the pillows. We’ve all been there… Following this strong start, in the rest of the album, we hear waves of differing emotions: yearning, self-doubt, obsession, and hopefulness. It’s a mirror reflection of the emotional turbulence that follows the end of a relationship.

‘In Your Head’, describes a feeling of longing and the pain that comes with picturing someone you love with somebody else, which is enhanced by the section of stripped-back, breathy vocals at the end of the song. Whereas in ‘Pressure Makes a Diamond’, zzzahara sings about feelings of inadequacy in their past relationship. Despite these emotional themes, the instrumental composition is anything but slow and lamenting, which is a refreshing change from many other ‘break up albums’. zzzahara is showing a more vulnerable side without losing their relaxed Californian sound.

‘Bruised’, a moody track with a strong drum beat that leads the song, conveys the worry that you might never be able to get over someone; that feeling of frustration when you don’t want to think about someone but it’s impossible to stop. The line “shock, shock electrotherapy, kill off all your memories, I’ve got to cleanse my energy”, is one of my favourites on the album. It feels like a reference to the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

So, what does it mean to spiral your way out of something? zzzahara’s record captures the essence of submitting yourself to the intensity of your own feelings. I think we can all agree that navigating young adulthood and the emotions that come with it can feel like a bit of a hurricane. In Spiral Your Way Out, we’re presented with the idea that the best way to deal with this is to simply sit in the eye of the storm. Rather than spending time in your head overanalysing what’s happening, it’s better to just lean into the chaos and see where it takes you. I can say I’ve spiralled my way out of a fair few situations over the years and it’s definitely left me with some interesting stories. The song on the record that encapsulates this the best is ‘Head in a Wheel’, where the lyrics like “too detached to even feel”, and “I try to listen to what you say, it goes in one ear and out my head”, portray a kind of vacancy that could seem melancholic if it weren’t combined with such an up-tempo drumbeat and carefree, indie guitar riffs, which take me back to Circa Waves’ 2015 LP ‘Young Chasers’.

The overall sound of this album complements this idea perfectly: dreamily layered and reverbed vocals, which are best used in the songs ‘Wish You Would Notice’ and ‘NY NY’, and woozy, lo-fi guitar sounds. In the chorus of ‘If I had to go I would leave the door closed halfway’, the guitar really reminds me of ‘Melodies Echo Chamber’, which has a similar whimsical sound. The title of the song ‘Bluebird’ references a poem by poet Charles Bukowski, who famously wrote about the ambience of life in Los Angeles in the 20th Century, which is often dulled by indulging in alcohol and women. Both the poem and the song talk about keeping a bluebird in its place: in zzzahara’s cage or Bukowski’s heart. The general tone of the song is subdued, zzzahara is making an observation about the pace of life around them. I thought it was a clever reference that really fleshes out the context in which this album’s set.

There’s different ways to enjoy this album, if you’re looking for catharsis you can really get lost in the lyrics, but if your just sprawled out relaxing somewhere, stick it on and let the gooey sounds wash over you. Either way, Spiral Your Way Out marks a strong step in zzzhara’s journey and we should be excited to see what they do next.

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