It's Alright Between Us as It Is

The point of Alright is not to churn out hit singles but to create an experience for its listeners, to create a concept album. Lindstrøm has successfully done so!

This latest from Lindstrøm weighs to heavy on the pedestrian side. Sure, the whole package is professionally crafted and confidently gets you drifting away from your day-to-day woes, but what we really need is for Chewie to punch it into hyperspace.

Perhaps the wildly-inventive producer isn’t inspired to break the mould, or to look for a new direction, but he is a producer sure to contrast this low with a high next time. It’s alright as it is, this record, but no more than that.

Lindstrøm’s output can include 10-minute workouts of an avant-garde Boredoms track or the sort of polite female vocals people expect to hear on unthreatening dance tunes--Grace Hall’s pleasantries on Shinin’ fit that bill on his fourth solo album while the infinitely more interesting Jenny Hval crops up on a superior Bungl (Like a Ghost).

It's frankly still a pleasure to hear Lindstrøm masterfully keep everything in check, but there's a distinct lack of the full-throttle joyousness that he's capable of. If it was his intentional choice to temper that instinct, it was sadly misjudged.

The album favors polished professionalism and sharp arrangements over risk-taking, so while there aren’t any duds, there aren’t any of the special moments that got Lindstrøm to this point in the first place.