That classic touch
Honeymoon is the fourth album of American singer Lana Del Rey. It has a sense of timelessness. It has diversity in that while mainly being a pop album it also has a elements of blues, baroque, electronic and hip hop. It could be described as a retro-styled album with a touch of sophistication.
The opening title track is a stylish pop song with sweeping strings. The song itself is not about a honeymoon but rather a tale of failed love. “Music To Watch Boys” has a trance feel arising out of synthesiser orchestrations and flute-like soundscape. In “Terence Loves You”, there is a hypnotic effect created by piano, strings and saxophone. As for Terence, he is a mystery guy. “High by the Beach” has a unique musical style led by synthesisers and adding of hip-hop and pop. The track is more on the pop side with Lana singing nonchalantly “All I wanna do is get high by the beach.”
In “God Knows I Tried”, Lana wants to drink the sky like a tequila sunrise — poetic in verse, but not melodic in music. “Freak” has an element of sultriness with the feel of an R&B song. After a slow start, things begin to warm up with “Art Deco”, a comparatively more peppy song.
“Burnt Norton (Interlude)” has Lana reciting an extract from T S Eliot’s famous poem that ponders questions of time and salvation (Time present and time past/ Are both perhaps present in time future/ And time future contained in time past/ If all time is eternally present/ All time is unredeemable). “Religion” is perhaps the only optimistic love song in the album. The closing track “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” is a cover version of Nina Simone’s 1960s jazz track of the same name. Lana puts new life in an old classic.
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