{"id":250,"date":"2022-12-30T16:25:17","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T21:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.richbradley.org\/songs\/?p=250"},"modified":"2022-12-30T16:25:17","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T21:25:17","slug":"fever-aldous-harding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richbradley.org\/songs\/2022-favorites\/fever-aldous-harding\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cFever\u201d \u2013 Aldous Harding"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I\u2019ve always been drawn to songwriters whose lyrics are too smart for me. I enjoy feeling like I\u2019m in the hands of an artist whose work has layers that are beyond my grasp.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aldous Harding\u2019s lyrics are often mistaken for absurdism. This was my take at least, when I first heard her 2019 breakthrough track \u201cThe Barrel.\u201d Watching the video<\/a> only furthered that impression, with her surreal costume and choreography bringing focus to offbeat lyrical imagery like \u201cshow the ferret to the egg.\u201d It all seemed ridiculous, but in a compelling way. I found myself listening to \u201cThe Barrel\u201d on repeat, registering on some level that its simple folk structure was masking something infinitely more intriguing.<\/span><\/p>\n

At some point I showed Kyla the lyrics of \u201cThe Barrel\u201d to see if she could make heads or tails of it. After a few minutes she looked at me and matter-of-factly said, \u201cthis is a break-up song.\u201d And of course it is! \u201cYou shook at the ivory mantle \/ As a poet, I knew to be gentle \/ When you have a child, so begins the braiding \/ And in that braid you stay.\u201d Once it all clicks (or mostly clicks, I\u2019m still not sure about the ferret), it\u2019s clear you\u2019re hearing about a relationship\u2019s end \u2013 you won\u2019t commit to getting married, and I certainly won\u2019t commit to having your kid. <\/span><\/p>\n

In Pitchfork\u2019s blurb on \u201cFever\u201d in their Best Songs of 2022<\/a> list (where I was pleasantly surprised to see this track at #12), Zach Schonfeld notes that while Harding typically \u201cdarts around the edges of narrative and inscrutability,\u201d here her story is relatively direct. And that\u2019s fair \u2013 even I got the gist of this one on first listen, as Harding wistfully recounts an eleven-day romance that begins in a hotel lobby. Still, unique turns of phrase and metaphors are everywhere: \u201cYou let me in where a mother\u2019d invested,\u201d \u201cThe weather opened up like a birthday card \/ and we forget one will fry if the other\u2019s connected.\u201d Though it\u2019s clearer on the surface, \u201cFever\u201d is no less evocative than Harding\u2019s more arcane tracks. <\/span><\/p>\n

Harding tends to use simple folk arrangements that give her lyrics plenty of breathing room. This makes every melodic choice critical, and in her best songs every subtle dynamic shift and chord change help clarify or imbue further meaning on her words. In this sense, \u201cFever\u201d may be her most successful composition to date; from the creeping G major-to-minor swap that surfaces at key moments in the verses to the unexpectedly extended instrumental break wordlessly representing the end of the affair, \u201cFever\u201d paints a picture that becomes more and more vivid with each listen.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d call Aldous Harding the best pop poet of her generation, but I\u2019m sure I\u2019m not qualified to say so. I can say with confidence though that she\u2019s operating on a level with few peers, and that you fortunately don\u2019t need to be on that same level to get swept away by her songs.<\/span><\/p>\n