May 2025 AOTM
![Pirouette [LP]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81loiQP76SL._UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg)
Model/Actriz - Pirouette
Tracks 11
Runtime 40mins
Favorite Tracks Vespers, Cinderella, Acid Rain
It’s tough to put a finger on what exactly Brooklyn band Model/Actriz’s music is. It is undoubtedly post-punk, and it is definitely noise rock, but that feels a bit like describing the Cold War as a “policy disagreement”.
What pirouette is to me is an undeniable pulse, a relentless heartbeat that feels like the dancing plague, an uncontrollable twirl forward. The rhythms are distorted, digital, dark, and heavy. Almost every song on the album has a writhing nightclub beat combined with percussive guitar work, only rarely even sounding like a guitar. Noisy and weird but so so danceable.
And it is, just in time for pride month, uncompromisingly gay. Lyrically I think this is the most affecting piece of music I have heard all year. It’s an album about coming out and I think as a queer woman I usually have a hard time finding that compelling. It's tough to tell that story in a way I haven't already heard. Hell I’ll be sitting on my therapists couch talking about growing up and figuring things out and so much of me will wince at how cliché my own experience sounds.
It feels like the only choices are the high flashy glitz and glamour of pride pop anthems, or the sad crushing lows that show the existential nightmare of being queer in a world that hates you. Choosing one or the other can of course be compelling if done right, but Model/Actriz doesn't bother choosing. They have somehow managed to combine both ends of the spectrum, soaked in just as much sparkle as it is blood.
It’s incredibly rare that an album’s lyrics hold up just as well as poetry as it does in the context of the music, so I will let them speak for themselves with this excerpt from Cinderella,
What pirouette is to me is an undeniable pulse, a relentless heartbeat that feels like the dancing plague, an uncontrollable twirl forward. The rhythms are distorted, digital, dark, and heavy. Almost every song on the album has a writhing nightclub beat combined with percussive guitar work, only rarely even sounding like a guitar. Noisy and weird but so so danceable.
And it is, just in time for pride month, uncompromisingly gay. Lyrically I think this is the most affecting piece of music I have heard all year. It’s an album about coming out and I think as a queer woman I usually have a hard time finding that compelling. It's tough to tell that story in a way I haven't already heard. Hell I’ll be sitting on my therapists couch talking about growing up and figuring things out and so much of me will wince at how cliché my own experience sounds.
It feels like the only choices are the high flashy glitz and glamour of pride pop anthems, or the sad crushing lows that show the existential nightmare of being queer in a world that hates you. Choosing one or the other can of course be compelling if done right, but Model/Actriz doesn't bother choosing. They have somehow managed to combine both ends of the spectrum, soaked in just as much sparkle as it is blood.
It’s incredibly rare that an album’s lyrics hold up just as well as poetry as it does in the context of the music, so I will let them speak for themselves with this excerpt from Cinderella,
The way you speak it makes me want to cry
Velvet jacket lined with satin resting on your thigh
As for my overtures
And my painted-on, two-dimensional scenery
And my taste for vaudevillian delivery
The way you turn your chest on me
I'm embarrassed to be clever when you're honest
You make me want to be ready
I feel different now than I did before
I can see how my power
Only was my fear of betrayal
In your eyes, I am naked
Screaming like a tornado in the dark
I can see us laying face to face
As St. Helens is underneath the stars
Velvet jacket lined with satin resting on your thigh
As for my overtures
And my painted-on, two-dimensional scenery
And my taste for vaudevillian delivery
The way you turn your chest on me
I'm embarrassed to be clever when you're honest
You make me want to be ready
I feel different now than I did before
I can see how my power
Only was my fear of betrayal
In your eyes, I am naked
Screaming like a tornado in the dark
I can see us laying face to face
As St. Helens is underneath the stars
It’s equal parts glitter and panic, lyrics blurring the lines between the self, the ego, the divine, and an obsessed musing love. And that nightclub pulse keeps pounding, stumbling forward enraptured, naked, and strung out. Weaving through flashing lights and swaying sweaty flesh.
Other albums I enjoyed this month
SENTRIES - Gem of the West
- Noisy mathy post-rock. Squid and King Gizzard fans will love this one
- Just a really pretty country/americana album. Great songwriting beautiful vocals
- This is PinkPantheress at her best. It's only 20mins long but every track is a banger
- This is I think the best album they’ve released. Men I trust have perfected their funky bedroom pop sound and it’s so addictive
- I really didn't expect an 80's New Wave album to come out this year. If you like Depeche Mode, Psychadelic Furs, or New Order definitely check this one out
- Somehow even better than their first EP, some of the most creative digital hardcore Ive ever heard
Albums from previous months I missed
Viagra Boys - viagr aboys
- Super danceable post-punk, clever lyrics, its bangers front to back. I will not be surprised if this ends up on my top 10 for the year
- Another instant addition to the top 10 shortlist. I didn't expect to hear a Mexican folk album this year and it blew me away the compositions are stunning