charli cast, but it will have its musical signature.
‘House’ is a collaboration with John Cale, which makes a lot of sense, since Charli xcx has not tired of saying that Lou Reed is inspiring the direction of her next album. Although ‘House’ is not as evocative of the Velvet Underground sound, nor of Nico. It has more to do, perhaps, with ‘MERCY’, the album that Cale published in 2023, full of collaborations.
‘House’ is an ambient piece, framed in a style of suspense and horror, which gives the spotlight to John Cale and his recited voice. Cale, accompanied by dissonant and tense strings, begins by reciting a text, in his deep voice, about a house that he “has built” and from which he cannot leave: he feels trapped. At the moment when the wall of guitars explodes, Charli appears to harmonize with Cale, who “I think I’m going to die inside that house”, curiously without giving up her characteristic autotune, but now immersed in distortion. In the final section, Charli repeats the aforementioned phrase desperately, while the noise engulfs her.
In short, ‘House’ is not ‘brat’, but it does offer an interesting musical direction for Charli xcx, more gloomy and dark, and until now unreleased in her discography.
Can ‘House’ preview the sound of Charli’s next album? At the moment, Charli has said, during her time on Gwyneth Paltrow’s podcast, that she is exploring the sound of strings.
