Let’s Eat Grandma
Two Ribbons
Transgressive
Buy via Official Store | Listen Below
At 16 years of age, Let’s Eat Grandma had no right to sound as good as they did. Their first album I, Gemini (2016) was a modest commercial success, built of reverb-heavy shoegaze soundscapes and peculiar track titles. “Eat Shiitake Mushrooms” and “Chimpanzees In Canopies” introduced them to the world, perfectly demonstrating the level of flamboyance two girls from East Anglia were willing to showcase in their youthful sci-fi electronica.
Follow-up album I’m All Ears (2018), a step up in every sense of the word, landed their name on a slew of “Best of 2018” lists. Revolutionary producer SOPHIE had a hand in two of the album’s best tracks, and it’s a huge credit to Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth that the rest stood alongside them in experimental quality, cinching the Q Award for Best Album, an Ivor Novello nomination, and a top 40 placement in the UK.
The pair, once inseparable, built a career like no other on the strength of their bond. “If you’ve got somebody who looks exactly the same as you there as well, it makes it a bit easier,” Walton explained to The Face last month. After a lifetime feigning twinship, they admit they have grown apart in some ways, and that they will never quite be the same again (“I can only be your best friend / And hope that that’s enough” in Two Ribbons’ title track). This is reflected in their new, personalized images, and even more so in their lyrics, which detail a myriad of brutal obstacles that befell them.
They were living in different cities for the first time, and both saw the end of a relationship—most unfortunately Hollingworth, whose boyfriend perished from bone cancer at just 22. Thereafter, Walton discovered new facets of her sexuality. Chuck in a pandemic for good measure, and it’s no wonder they emerge now as two different people.
Where I, Gemini and I’m All Ears were experiments in exploring adolescence, Two Ribbons is a rediscovery through catharsis and epiphany, yet decidedly upbeat considering the subject matters at hand. This is synthpop through-and-through, an album with a tighter core than their first two, but one that lacks the idiosyncratic highs of euphoric saxophone solos, glockenspiels, and mystical childlike handclapping that initially made them a band worth watching.
The experimental arm of Let’s Eat Grandma is not necessarily gone, but it’s hard to deny the need for a more conventional conduit to emphasize the lyrical depth. Knowing now that there was never a guarantee of a third album, those most disappointed by this may feel like they’re rolling with the punches. But hear this: there’s plenty of good to be mined on Two Ribbons, where they form their eccentricities with more immediacy than ever before.
“Insect Loop” is the jewel in this crown, with its lead-guitar based build-up rivalling the most dramatic moments of their past records in blindingly powerful prog-pop. Glossy new wave shows up with more than an invitation on “Hall of Mirrors,” and let’s not forget the round of fireworks on opener “Happy New Year,” for illustration. It may not be the 10+ minute epics and unconventional interludes they’re known for, but their melodies are easier to dance to than ever, giving extra satisfaction when the lyrics beneath are so tense.
Let’s Eat Grandma’s sonic identity prior to Two Ribbons has been so distinctive that some will be disheartened by these results. But most who came for their oddities will stick around for their growth, and the continuation of a storied bond between two women from Norwich: “Just the friends we are today / And know that that’s enough.”
Notable Tracks: “Happy New Year” | “Insect Loop” | “Two Ribbons”
BUY Two Ribbons via Let’s Eat Grandma’s Official Store
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