“Times are heavy. Give us something that really doesn’t do a lot.”
Wesley Morris is a New York Times critic who writes about art and popular culture. Each spring, he seeks out music that captures the essence of the season: that light hopefulness evoked by the first moderate temperatures; that urge to be outside, to move, to bloom.
This year, he found it in Harry Styles’ fourth album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.
The album is undoubtedly electronic and bright. Styles explained that some of this energy was inspired by LCD Soundsystem, an indie “American dance-punk revival band” formed in New York in the early 2000s.
My favorite song of all time is “Home” by LCD Soundsystem. The band’s songs are typically long, building an orchestra of sounds with various techniques. Even as someone with no musical background, I can appreciate how each track feels like a story. Morris writes that Styles’ new music does “that trick that LCD Soundsystem does, where just basically, you’re sitting in a bathtub. And you’re like, where’s the water? And then very gradually just you’re in a sound bath.”
Harry Styles has been developing his identity as a solo artist for years. He is an individual who has held significant fame for the majority of his life now. Styles comments that seeing LCD Soundsystem live was a major inspiration for this new album. He wanted to capture the joyous energy he saw them play with, and the crowd experience revitalized his love for music.
“[Being] a real audience member, and, like, [being] in the crowd and kind of [having] a reminder of like, oh, this is why this is special to people, and this is why this feels so good to kind of come together and be with a group of strangers and dance to music. I really experienced that for myself in a way that I hadn’t had much of previously.”
In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Styles was asked about Liam Payne.
“I think the greatest way you can honor your friends who pass away is by living your life to the fullest,” Styles remarked.
I haven’t explored much of Styles’ music before. But as an avid LCD Soundsystem fan and after seeing this touching commentary on his close companion, I gave the new album a thorough listen. My personal favorite track on the album is “Taste Back.” Styles’ soft voice compliments the bright beat.
“These songs are like 12 beautiful little flowers,” Morris writes. “… for these six weeks, I have got a whole bouquet of songs just put in a vase, [to] stick on the table, and make me happy every day.”