Naturally, many of the New York singer’s classic hallmarks are on display, too. The unprecedented inclusion of this rough vocal take seems to reflect a conscious decision to make the project as pure and organic as possible.
Its stripped-back arrangements further this feeling of intimacy “Cherry Blossom” and “Beautiful”, for instance, are underscored by barebones piano accompaniments, while the equally life-affirming “Arcadia” features some rare examples of microphone clipping as a result of her impassioned delivery.
Everyone from her sister to her dogs - Tex and Mex - gets a shout-out, while tracks like “Living Legend” and “Beautiful” are oozing with optimism and toasts to good company.ĭel Rey has claimed that Blue Banisters is intended to ‘tell her story’ in the sense that it’s a self-contained window into her life. The colour blue, ever-emblematic of ‘the blues’, is a recurring motif, but so is the altogether happier theme of family. Elsewhere, there are multiple contributions from The Last Shadow Puppets, with whom Del Rey had been working on a fabled collaborative LP: bassist and producer Zach Dawes’ influence frequently resurfaces throughout, while Miles Kane lends his inimitable vocals to the humorous highlight “Dealer”.įascinatingly, there’s a cohesion to the album despite its reliance on previously shelved material, successfully positioning it not as a slapdash compilation of archived songs but instead as a carefully sequenced selection of autobiographical numbers past and present. While Chemtrails was almost exclusively produced by close collaborator Jack Antonoff, Blue Banisters instead calls upon a wider cast of personnel including the versatile Gabe Simon, fresh face Drew Erickson, and hip-hop heavyweight Mike Dean, who moves out of his comfort zone on “Wildflower Wildfire”. The former – one of several tracks co-written by her ex-boyfriend Barrie-James O’Neill – finds parallels with “Cruel World”, with Lana proudly declaring “I get wild and fucking crazy”. “Nectar of the Gods” and “Cherry Blossom”, both of which leaked in 2019, can be traced all the way back to the Ultraviolence recording sessions. Dig deeper, however, and you’ll find this record was years in the making.
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