Many have called Los Angeles alt-pop trio MUNA’s 2021 hit Silk Chiffon ironic for the times. After all, how else could one explain the viral popularity of a single declaring “life’s so fun!” at the tailend of two of the hardest years of living in recent memory? Objectively though, it’s the sort of saccharine sentimentality that the world needed and for MUNA, it was the beginning of a new era that they had needed. Perhaps what the world seemed to cotton on to was the distinct sense of giddy liberation coursing through Silk Chiffon’s bubblegum guitar pop. The single would arrive as the band’s first since leaving major label RCA and signing with Phoebe Bridger’s Saddest Factory Records. It’s a move that for MUNA, seems to have been an essential step toward establishing their identity and their latest eponymous third album is the arrival of a more settled, self-aware MUNA.
Traversing the planes of indie rock and synthpop, MUNA’s aesthetic template has always been distinct in their work, but their point of view has never been particularly distinctive. While previous songs like Number One Fan or I Know A Place are general enough to apply to any sort of romance, songs like Silk Chiffon and What I Want, with their considered gendering of MUNA’s object of affection, are unabashedly queer. This bleeds into the sound, with MUNA switching between synth-heavy, Robyn-esque dance beats and an effervescent 2000’s pop style that feels not only like a natural progression, but an easing of restraint. This release is one that pushes them further into their own sphere and away from, say, any understandable confusion with HAIM. This feeling of release most defines the front of the album. The drink-all-night sentiments of What I Want, which lead singer-songwriter Katie Gavin has likened to an ‘adult coming out,’ races into metallic hyperpop explosions on Runner’s High. These glitchy, future pop touches are chased by a ravey UKG breakbeat that echoes Charli XCX’s recent work on Crash, eventually leading into the modular synth throbs of Home By Now. The first half of the album feels like it contains its own little narrative; a meet-cute, an all-nighter hoping between gay bars and nightclubs, finally arriving home in early morning light with your makeup on the other side of your face and love-drunk on tequila.
Kind Of Girl feels like a bit of a comedown; a country-pop ballad sung over plucked guitar strings, Gavin’s voice possessing an intriguing androgyny in its timbre. The song also ushers in a mid-section of classic MUNA faire that takes fewer risks with their formula. While No Idea features hook after hook and a delicious funk-turned-hair-metal sample, Solid and Anything But Me feel like continuations of what has come before. They’re sharply written pop songs, but the return to their subtle synth alt-pop after the album’s propulsive and explosive first half makes these fade into the background a bit too heavily. Loose Garment, a heartbreak ballad scored with strings and a gentle bass pulse, is easily the strongest on the album’s backend. With its evocative lyrics comparing one’s emotions to wearing clothing and Gavin’s syrupy delivery, it’s a gorgeous and tender moment that feels essential to MUNA as a whole.
It makes sense that the band should choose this to be their self-titled moment. For them, it feels like their most definitive declaration of intent, a statement of identity unlike anything they’ve done before. The album’s strongest moments show great promise for the future of MUNA outside the expectations of the major label system, and there’s something to be said for the fact that their most mainstream album should come from their most indie career move. It’s clear that they are no longer being held to whatever expectations RCA may have had of them, and the freedom to exercise their pop proclivities has resulted in an album that feels, at its best, like a coming of age.
Watch the music video for What I Want below.
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