Album Review: beabadoobee – Fake It Flowers

When beabadoobee released her first song on Soundcloud, she never expected it to be a viral hit. At the time, she was still learning how to properly play the guitar.

With the release of her debut album Fake It Flowers, Bea's technical progression is on full display. But while her musical ability has advanced far beyond her lo-fi bedroom pop beginnings, she manages to retain the astonishing intimacy that rapidly endeared her to thousands upon thousands of fans. She does this by layering in well-placed, ever-so-slightly-off-key vocals on tracks like ‘How Was Your Day’.

'Horen Sarrison' is a callback to an early single, called 'Soren' (after her boyfriend), but this new iteration is a much bigger romantic gesture. Purposefully tongue-in-cheek, her earnest and visceral lyrics kick the track off with a bold claim: “you are the smell of pavement after the rain”. Making fun of movie-soundtrack tropes, the song builds expertly, incorporating a full string section.

Bea’s ardent love for 90s grunge and garage rock makes up a surprisingly large portion of Fake It Flowers – before the first chorus of album opener ‘Care’ has had a chance to properly sink in, it’s easy to imagine she might be as comfortable in an era with Stephen Malkmus as she is in the internet age. The stirring, DIY atmosphere of 'Back To Mars' is offset by the electric, raucous production of the heavier-handed side of the record. This is not beabadoobee’s first triumph, but it is her most significant to date.

• Out now via Dirty Hit.
• 8/10