Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. Lana Del Rey (2)

Just when I thought to have heard enough Lana Del Rey to last me a life time, she releases Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. After I truly started to listen, the album only but blew my mind. I bought a copy and it is in high rotation. Her best so far? That is too early to tell. As a contender it is certainly in the match.

On the release day I dutifully listened on Spotify but only with half a heart and got stuck in the sort of mystery the spoken word song is. Exactly what happened in the second session a few days later, after which I gave up.

It is only because of the review of Erwin Zijleman that he re-published on this blog a few weeks ago, I listened again with the effect that I bought the album a few days later. Hardly a day went by without it being played. And, here I'm breaking my rule not to write a review if Erwin has and the other way around, not to put on one of his reviews if I have. Editor-in-chief's prerogative, let's keep it at that.

Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd is one big trip down memory lane. Lana Del Rey's biggest musical influences are artists that were popular when her grandparents were raising her parents, if even that. The 1950s are all over this music, as a departure point. Some songs could have come out of films starring Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds or sung by Frankie Laine, Pat Boone and even Frank Sinatra. I know, I've written these words many a time before. It's just that it is even more striking on her latest album. Do I like real 50s, (grand)parents' music of the day? No, not at all. It is there where my attraction of Lana Del Rey's music does start though. She appeals to the music I must have heard, before being conscious of listening to something called music.

Lana Del Rey may start in 1950s nostalgia, from there she makes use of modern recording gear and all the instruments that have been added to the options of making music since. Listening to Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd I have the constant experience of listening to holes in the music as much as to what I do hear. The mixing is what makes her music so mysterious and attractive to listen to, as it creates all this space. It's like the universe, seemingly endless in depth and breadth and beyond the wildest imagination a brain can grasp. And that voice of course, that comes through this endlessness and adds to it.

Okay, do I like everything? Well, the album could have been a few songs shorter, that would have helped with my attention span after circa 12 songs. And then there's the mystery of the spoken word tracks. They do hinder after the xth listening session. In the first Interlude I have the idea of listening to a southern baptist preacher, Judah Smith, preaching about fire and brimstone (he is not, this is very personal), while a seemingly stoned Lana is making fun of it all. What is the idea? Except for the fact that underneath there's certainly a beautiful piece of music. I simply do not get it.

For the rest, the album is so exciting, filled with great moments and experiments. Not everything goes as one would expect from one of the biggest selling artists. Lana del Rey and producers dare to step outside the boundaries. Take the piano part in 'Candy Necklaces'. It could be Eric Satie inspired, but what do I know? The piano makes fun of the rhythm of the song and goes off into its own sphere, only to be able to play more than is counted for. Like Bob Dylan does with words in some of his songs.

Another element, screaming from the artwork, is the number of collaborations on the album. Lana del Rey shares her stage with many and gives them the glory as well.

Where her singing is concerned, she is moving towards French sigh girls of the 60s, and the Gainsbourg-Doillon dynasty today, more and more, while also hinting at some kind of trash-chique in her phrasing. Moving in and out by the line. It all adds to the mystery that surrounds Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd and Lana Del Rey herself.

The combination of it all results in me being drawn into the album more and more. Falling through the cracks the "absent music" creates and sucked into all else that is there. And finally that relaxed piano that is all over this album. Says the guitar man!

Did you know that there's a cover of the title track already? It's by another favourite of Erwin Zijleman, The Reds, Pinks & Purples. It rocks totally.

Wout de Natris