Breakup albums are standard fare in the world of pop and rock, but it’s hard to think of nearly enough that feature odes to women masturbating while subverting the heteronormative gaze. Enter British singer-songwriter Marika Hackman with her third album, and glorious songs such as Hand Solo (“I gave it all, but under patriarchal law, I’m gonna die a virgin”).
Queer sex, self-pleasure and a general wry frankness are consistent themes throughout Any Human Friend, which follows the end of Hackman’s four-year relationship with fellow musician Amber Bain, aka the Japanese House. Hackman has spoken lately of a newfound love of swimming, and on tracks such as the woozy, sweet-as-summer-wine Wanderlust you can feel the quiet meditativeness of moving through water as she wrings out the past – “Did I make her laugh, or was it just pretend?” – with disarming candour.
Hackman flits between self-reflection and self-loathing with ease (“You’re such an attention whore”), starkly unpicking her anxieties over fuzzy guitar on her most accomplished record to date.
