My first time posting here, just need to share how im feeling about this album.
I bawled my eyes out listening to Kintsugi and Fingertips, i think it's the depth she hadn't reached yet with her previous albums. The way she sings about deaths of her relatives and the way it affected her is so heartbreaking, and it makes me go back to reminiscing my personal experiences and traumas. I think it's a great way to share her poetry through the music. As she said herself, those are not 'great songs', but it's a great combination of poetry and music.
I also loved Sweet, it's a beautiful song. I love how sharp her lyricism is with this album. Paris, Texas is also a standout, it brings a feeling of nostalgia, and also this song kind of brings you back after you fell apart listening to Kintsugi and Fingertips.
Let the Light In and Margaret make for a great light ending to a very dark and heavy subjects of the previous songs. Let the Light In kind of sounds like it could be on Lust for Life, which I love. Margaret is simple but effective.
I haven't yet made up my opinion on the closing 3 tracks. Fishtail sounds kind of generic and isn't as good as Tulsa, whish i've seen it being compared to. But all in all those 3 songs are a great way to finish an album and shake off the hard feelings of its core. I love Taco Truck, i only wish the first half would be longer, actually i wouldn't mind the whole song including VB would last 10 minutes.
Interludes are cool in the context of the album and they do a great job of building a bridge from the first part of the album through Candy Necklace (which is iconic and sounds like it could be on Ultraviolence) to the more vulnerable and personal songs.
All in all I think it's her masterpiece, but then again i think that about every album of hers. Anyway, i think it holds itself strong compared to NFR, and for me personally Ocean Blvd is much more grand and courageous than NFR.
Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED talk, i'll go back swimming with the fishes, call me Aphrodite, as the waves bow down to me.