Finding a way to strike when the iron is hot is the perennial challenge for any indie musician.
In the lead-up to the release of his third studio album ‘What Happened To The Beach?’, Hertfordshire-born Declan McKenna had garnered the largest audience of his career. Known for tackling topics that range from transgender rights all the way to British nuclear intervention in the Middle East, McKenna’s political commentary on his 2017 debut ‘What Do You Think About The Car?’ had him lauded as a voice of a generation all before he could legally drink in a bar. His exceptional 2020 glam-rock inspired follow-up, ‘Zeros’, further cemented his status as one of the most impressive songwriters to come out of Britain in years and as lockdowns struck and McKenna retreated out of the public’s consciousness, his 2015 song ‘Brazil’ and his cover of ABBA’s ‘Slipping Through My Fingers’ both went viral on TikTok. Last summer, he performed just one slot below headliner Billie Eilish at Reading & Leeds Festival before embarking on a mammoth sold out tour of both North America and Australia. This year, his UK tour will take him to some of his biggest venues yet, with an eye-watering date at London’s legendary Alexandra Palace the pick of the bunch.
With two incredible albums under his belt and millions of new fans all caught in an online craze surrounding the 25-year-old, it seemed that the street-smart songwriter was just one step away from going stratospheric. Yet with the world at his feet, McKenna’s ‘What Happened To The Beach?’ is an utterly bizarre creative right-turn, that sees political commentary set aside for a psychedelic album that is so filled to the brim with distorted and eclectic sounds that it’s hard to believe a major label released it.
Opener ‘WOBBLE’ is as sonically ridiculous as its title suggests, with squawking vocals administered over a myriad of repeating sounds used to signal the beginning of McKenna’s psychedelic adventure. After writing and recording the majority of the album in California, ‘WOBBLE’ also introduces us to McKenna’s newfound West-Coast tendencies, singing “I used to cry at home all night / now I’m out in the sunshine.” Yet the mishmash of electronic noises creates a sonic atmosphere that is considerably more distracting then you can imagine McKenna and main collaborator Gianluca Buccellati would have wanted, a trend that follows throughout lead single ‘Sympathy’. While it’s evident that McKenna is trying to wear post-Beatles McCartney on his sleeve, Sympathy’s wonky brass instruments and elated guitars leave the listener left wondering if a more stripped back version with the melody at the forefront of the arrangement would have served the song better.
The strange production choices continue on ‘I Write The News’ as a rustling and mumbled iPhone recording is oddly chosen as the desired vocal take as McKenna’s finds himself once again squawking over a mixed-down acoustic guitar. Thankfully, the song does eventually evolve into a more bearable drum and bass driven track that has McKenna musing over London’s rental market but the way the song is presented ultimately leaves you scratching your head. However, such is the strange ride that ‘What Happened To The Beach?’ is, for every big swing that McKenna goes for and misses, there is another he nails. ‘Mulholland’s Dinner and Wine’ gorgeous, layered vocals are paired with an incredibly groovy baseline that create an incredibly fun yet somewhat haunting sonic texture. While you wouldn’t have believed the often goofy McKenna on his first two albums, you can’t help but think that the line ‘I’ve got a boring apartment / and all the drugs’ has autobiographical tendencies as you delve further into one of the strangest indie projects of the year.
Elsewhere, ‘Nothing Works’ and ‘The Phantom Buzz (Kick In)’ both provide hints of the Declan McKenna that festival crowds have been singing along to for years but to differing results. ‘Nothing Works’, a high-energy belter that recalls LCD Soundsystem is undoubtedly the easiest song to digest on ‘What Happened To The Beach?’, which has McKenna commenting on his new-found creative direction and the criticism that may come with it. ‘I sing the song and you didn’t like the words / I try to fix myself but nothing works’. The key-changed guitar solo in the bridge is also worth noting too, highlighting that some of McKenna’s creative risks on this album are worthy of applause. Yet, for ‘The Phantom Buzz (Kick In)’, a song that could have easily been just as good as ‘Nothing Works’ stumbles over itself, never quite exploding into the energy the track is trying to get out, as it drowns in half-baked sonic ideas that McKenna could have spent longer focusing.
To their credit, both McKenna and Buccellati do manage to wrangle back the album in its later stages as the repeating horn motif in ‘Mezzanine’ is as infectious as it is enjoyable while McKenna’s vocal performance feels less strained and more comfortable at a lower range. Meanwhile, ‘It’s An Act’ genuinely feels quite sincere, especially for an album that hides behind such weird themes and instrumentation. The downtrodden yet atmospheric vibe of the song provides one of the album’s real highlights, as McKenna muses on his place as both a musician and celebrity. As closer ‘Four More Years’ rounds out McKenna’s psychedelic experience with the chanting of that very phrase, it’s hard to make of what you just listened to.
Ultimately, McKenna and Buccellati spend too much of ‘What Happened To The Beach’ trying to dress up each songs sonic palette with a wide array of distorted sounds, without focusing on if the songs at their bare bones are good enough. While ‘What Happened To The Beach’ is undoubtedly a bold creative direction that McKenna should be applauded for moving towards, the resulting project feels more like a collection of ideas than it does a focused body of work.
McKenna may very well get his first number 1 album with ‘What Happened To The Beach’ and will undoubtedly be worth seeing on his upcoming UK tour but for somebody as talented as the 25-year-old is, his third album may just be his first creative misstep of his career.
Words By Romesh Cruse