The debut album by Megan Markwick and Lily Somerville is a cigarette paper away from brilliance: all it lacks is little more colour, a little more variation, just the little spark that sets the extraordinary apart from the rest. Their territory is not a million miles from the 1975’s: millennial anxiety pops up time and time again (“I’m in my 20s, so I panic in every way / I’m so scared of the future, I keep missing today,” they sing on You’ve Got Your Whole Life Ahead of You Baby), and the way their harmonies fall sometimes calls to mind Matty Healy’s double-tracked vocal.
What Emotional Education perhaps lacks is the grain of sand that makes the pearl. Despite the emotional turmoil of the lyrics, the musical consistency – smooth, tasteful synthpop – perhaps serves to flatten out the moods, so Invincible’s declaration that “I’ll wear our life like armour” is offered up at the same level of intensity as the panicky Swim. But there’s so much promise here. Markwick and Somerville can write a terrific lyric. Swim works outwards from its opening verse, in which the narrator swims “in neat lines from the poolside”, until it becomes about the fear of drowning in life. The melodies are good, though Emotional Education lacks the single indelible song that takes a group from admired cult to huge crowds. Imperfect, then, but so many seeds have been planted. Don’t be surprised if Ider’s second album turns out a masterpiece.
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