It seems like Beabadoobee has spent the last few years building up the sort of buzz that was never going to be entirely sustainable without the eventual delivery of something substantial. The Philippines-born, London-based singer, after releasing a few EP's and other tracks, is here with her debut album. Fake It Flowers, out tomorrow via Dirty Hit, illustrates how well Beabadoobee can translate the quirky appeal of her earlier DIY indie into something a good deal bigger in scope.
After kicking off with a real contender for one of the best singles of 2020 in "Care", Fake It Flowers finds Bea veering from tunes that recall the best Juliana Hatfield stuff from the college rock glory days ("Worth It"), to those that reveal a perhaps surprising adeptness at grunge ("Charlie Brown"). A number like "Further Away", as light as air, indicates that some life's left in the old dream pop carcass, Beabadoobee injecting this with a whole lot of charm thanks to her wonderful voice, even as "Sorry" blends elements of folk rock with the kind of cacophonous racket one would expect on a Radiohead side circa 2000.
And to acknowledge the pieces here on Fake It Flowers that feel familiar is to praise Beabadoobee for placing most of her debut full-length within arm's reach of the brand of indie rock that listeners will recognize. What makes this special, however, is her voice, and her talent at crafting melodies that seem like they're about to lose themselves in a gust of emotion, only to swing back from chaos to clearheadedness. Nearly everything on this debut album benefits from that push-and-pull, and Beabadoobee, even on a relatively straightforward number like "How Was Your Day?", makes the material shine with an innocent directness, even as the music shimmers in a haze around her voice, or crashes loudly behind her. Some will say that this is dream pop, and even if you want to call it that, Beabadoobee's vocals are so clear and bracing that nearly everything here on this debut works on some level.
Fake It Flowers is out tomorrow via Dirty Hit.
More details on Beabadoobee via her official Facebook page.
[Photo: Beabadoobee / Press Here Publicity]