Of The Highest Disorder

Parenthood and politics interweave with ace pop as a revered talent re-engages.

- Kevin Harley

U.S. Girls 

Bless This Mess

4/5

4AD 4AD 0506 (CD, LP)

Even by her own shapeshifting standards, U.S. Girls' Meghan Remy has executed some breathtaking gear-changes since 2020's Heavy Light.

Besides a typically withering critique of Father Christmas (seasonal single Santa Stay Home), she has written a memoir (Begin By Telling), sampled Glenn Gould, covered the Birthday Party for a tribute album and more. Along the way, she gave birth to twins and recorded an album, whose title speaks volumes about Remy's ability to transform mighty feats of multi-tasking and politically aware meaning into hallowed art-pop.

Recorded piecemeal with a busy troupe of collaborators, including Marker Starling, Basia Bulat and husband Max Turnbull, Bless This Mess navigates chaos with binding cogency, as befits Remy's quick intuition and intellect. Whether she's evoking Greek myth, assuming the viewpoint of sentient evening wear or extolling breast pumps, the result is an album of playful fluency and precision: never the same between songs and peppered with perspective shifts within songs, but unerringly sharp-eyed in its execution.

Hence opener Only Daedalus, a silky slice of Joan Wasser-ish R&B soul-funk that opens as an opaque reflection on celestial hubris. Gradually, a critique of inheritance seems implicit, with an ovation-worthy lyrical twist on the Icarus myth: "Don't get too high," warns Remy, "on your daddy's supply."