Heavy Light

Heavy Light, the remarkable new record from Meg Remy's U.S. Girls project, is a scavenger hunt for these elusive pasts — music devoted to reflection and retrospection. ... Never before have her narratives felt so personal and resonant.

You might miss the electric-burn intensity of the lead guitars from In a Poem Unlimited, or you might miss the Iggy’s The Idiot-meets-Marc Bolan-and-Madonna-on-a-Tarantino-soundtrack vibes, but ultimately, there’s just as much to enjoy here. Heavy Light is more subdued, more restrained, and certainly more beautiful than its big sister.

Heavy Light thrives in this sort of dissociative blaze where gender politics, grief, and deeply fucked-up pop hooks slam into one another. So much of Heavy Light exists in this emotional space that feels like an exquisite freefall.

Beyond the artful execution of the conceptual core of the record, Remy has once again constructed a vibrant and moving album. Heavy Light both reflects back on her previous work and stands among the best of it.

The record is arresting and unnerves in a way only possible from personal anecdotes as opposed to Poem’s parables—it doesn’t speak for everyone, like a fable might, but it does speak for a lot of people.

Heavy Light confirms a major talent.

It's another huge step forward for the uncontainable U.S. Girls organism, one that skillfully combines the immediacy of personal memories with Remy's uncanny ability to inject her singular creative voice into every sound she touches.

Produced by Remy and recorded live with 20 session musicians, Heavy Light is rich, textured and sonically huge.

Heavy Light holds her ground beautifully. [Apr 2020, p.104]

Heavy Light is no one-note affair. ... Artfully honest songs. [Apr 2020, p.36]

Thanks to its exquisite craft, and Remy's feel for her characters, that project finds its finest expression yet in Heavy Light. [Apr 2020, p.86]

In the past this rage was intrinsic, wounds covered with cheery sugar, but now there is emotional distance at the core of Heavy Light, filled with others’ voices. Whether or not a deliberate choice, through this transformation the album loses some of its potency and ability to affect. [Jun 2020, p.59]

There is no doubt that it takes several cycles through the album for things to start to click. That’s if you find yourself willing to give in to the album’s concepts and approach.

Interesting, unique ideas squandered by a lack of blossoming. The album's vibe is maybe best exemplified in the three skits where we get snippets of people asked broad questions, and their responses are layered over each other.