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On the surface, Lux could seem more like a challenging scholarly examination rather than the latest pop record by an artist who just had a last single featured an international pop icon. Divided across 4 separate sections and voiced in thirteen languages, we have a dizzying classical-tinged album that delves into feminine mystery, spiritual transcendence, and bodily change, frequently through the perspective of various saintly figures. The end of a love affair—a topic treated with grounded openness elsewhere—is shot skyward here, carried by the lush presence of a full orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among an extensive list of collaborators. Its sheer audacity by itself renders the work of contemporary artists look quite laughable.

Rising Above Academic Exercise

The fact that this album manages to escape dry intellectual chin-stroking feels nothing short of a miracle, with complete praise belonging to the artist. While it's not the first time album to alchemize the past with modern styles, its stakes feel far greater on Lux, and the tightrope walk more dramatic. The element that truly elevates her fourth release, beyond its multilayered melodies, dense compositions, and engrained theatricality, is an essential spirit of joy. Much like the iconic artist at her peak, you find a wondrous quality to the vocalist's voice which sweeps you into its tornado. When she's breaking hearts apart, you still want to stay alongside her through the journey.

A Signature Example of Joy

This exuberant energy comes forth clearly on a stirring piano-led ballad inspired by Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a sorrowful melancholy over more than four minutes. Suddenly, everything drops silent, to reveal there's a gleeful laugh and a declaration prior to a hilariously exaggerated string surge crashes in like cartoonish force. The song then shifts to the wild track driven by racing orchestration, a powerful choir, and a surprise role from the artist Björk.

"The magic of Lux is that the listener rarely exactly understand—or even want to predict—what it will go next."

Nearly each song concludes in a completely distinct place than where it began. A track explores the transient trappings of fame with a featherlight symphony only to collapsing into electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a song that recalls the artist's previous rhythmic work starts off dark and sinister, featuring menacing beats, before sudden traditional rhythms and a heavenly choir arrive to smooth the song's jagged edges.

The Bridge Between Art and Pop

A key achievement on Lux involves navigating the gap between radical experimentation and broad appeal. It is little surprise that it has achieved the artist's first work to break into the Top 5 of key charts: at its core a collection of truly catchy pop songs. A song sung entirely in the English language swells on a refrain that feels to gather more and more nagging hooks while it spirals skyward. This feat gets repeated on another powerful track that expands and contracts, weaving layered tunes as a complex tapestry.

• A dance-infused number seduces with its playful, theatrical flair and an anthemic chorus.
• Lyrically, it shares with cultural honesty of contemporary heartbreak songs, lambasting a former partner labeled an "psychological bully".
• Throughout the album, the singing have a painted-on edge, like a fairy-tale figure concealing a blade: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of letdown."

An Opulent Banquet for the Ears

Lux is pop on a grand level, an ambitious reach for high Art amid of looming artificial sameness. It rejects self-absorption for sublime transcendence, crafting a dramatic drama that masterfully manages its own built-in excess. This is a deep well of buried treasure that requires patience to completely explore but doesn't seem like hard work. While some major pop albums of the year seemed like a meager scraps, this record is a lavish banquet where the characters around the table, perhaps intoxicated on holy wine, flutter from conversations about historical saints, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking grief, and shared stories about useless men. It is a contemporary musical from music's truly restlessly inventive practitioner.