Nicole Dollanganger - Married in Mount Airy ALBUM REVIEW

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Canada’s a real wild place, huh?

Ah, the first review of the new year. It’s pretty exciting to see what the standard will be for the first big albums of the year, and the fact that there was a surprise album from The Weeknd that kicked off 2022 and that *wasn’t* the highlight really said something. 2022 was a banner year, and we’re already off to a good start this year. Canadian singer-songwriter Nicole Dollanganger is back, five years after her last album Heart Shaped Bed, with a new album, which came as a surprise to me. She dropped a great single in support of this album last year titled “Whispering Glades,” and mainly because I’m an idiot and didn’t keep track of any other singles, a new album flew off my radar. Basically, Married in Mount Airy came as a wonderful surprise when it came up last week on my calendar. Either way, a new album is here and, most importantly, I’ve heard it. Let’s get into it.

I haven’t been riding or dying for Dollanganger’s music in recent months, but the fact that this blew me away from the first track alone gave me a great feeling about Mount Airy. The title track just had everything that worked: haunting vocals, the disturbing lyrics, and fantastic production, which I believe was all done by Dollanganger herself. That feeling carries through the rest of the album, which I can only compare to an increasingly uncomfortable ghost story. I think that this album is the best writing she’s had that I’ve heard in her discography, giving off this heartbreaking feeling when paired with her high-pitched vocals. Granted, it can get tough to get into as a newer listener with said vocals, but there’s something really great once it becomes less strange.

With that being said, I don’t really have much else to say about Married in Mount Airy. 2023 is getting kicked off with a bang. Actually, it’s more like a slow burn with Nicole Dollanganger’s first album in five years. Married in Mount Airy may be her best album yet with her signature slowcore stylings merging with heartbreaking lyrics.


9/10


Listen here

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Apple Music

YouTube

Bandcamp




Married in Mount Airy is self-released.

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