Norman Fucking Rockwell!

by Lana Del Rey

Overview

With the creation of her Lana Del Rey persona, singer/songwriter Lizzy Grant stitched together the iconography of a fading American dream with soaring but melancholic pop songwriting, becoming an icon unto herself in the process. Her distinctive approach blurred sadness and longing just as it did past and present, drawing on the influence of classic American pop while integrating modernized touches like trap beats and millennial cultural references. With sixth album Norman Fucking Rockwell!, Lana Del Rey expands her vision with the most daring and vulnerable work of her catalog. One of the first noticeable shifts is how subtle the album's sound is. Where 2017's Lust for Life had its share of huge drums and booming dynamics, many songs here are free of drums completely and tend towards far more solitary atmospheres. A strong classic rock influence comes through on many songs, with the softly building pianos and acoustic guitars on tracks like "Mariners Apartment Complex" or the apocalyptic "The Greatest" sounding like the best of '70s FM radio reworked around Grant's smoldering, exhausted vocals. Even though Stevie Nicks' witchy mystique has long been a reference point for LDR, this particular brand of classic rock -- silky guitar solos, compressed drum fills, and lingering, mournful outros -- is unlike anything she's attempted before. The most exciting aspects of Norman Fucking Rockwell! come in these unexpected moments. A faithful reading of Sublime's "Doin' Time" contorts to fit Grant's moody approach, becoming an extension of her own expression rather than a goofy, ironic cover. Where huge pop hooks met eerie melodrama on previous albums, here both extremities of that formula have grown more understated and direct. "Venice Bitch" is the best example of this. The nine-minute song begins with gentle strings and soft, hopeful melodies but winds into a long, meditative stretch where synth textures and hypnotic repeating vocals bleed into walls of noisy guitars. While much of her older material reveled in its own inconsolable sadness and detached numbness, the lush sonics and intimate narratives of Norman Fucking Rockwell! draw out hope from beneath desolate scenes. The patient flow, risky songwriting choices, and mature character of the album make it the most majestic chapter of Lana Del Rey's continuing saga of love and disillusionment under the California Sun. ~ Fred Thomas

Product Details

Release Date:	08/30/2019
Label:	Interscope / Polydor
UPC:	0602508075889

Tracks

1. Norman Fucking Rockwell
2. Mariners Apartment Complex
3. Venice Bitch
4. Fuck It I Love You
5. Doin' Time
6. Love Song
7. Cinnamon Girl
8. How to Disappear
9. California
10. The Next Best American Record
11. The Greatest
12. Bartender
13. Happiness Is a Butterfly
14. Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman like Me to Have... But I Have It

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Lana Del Rey   Primary Artist,Horn,Vocals
Rick Nowels   Guitar (Acoustic),Piano,Keyboards
Kieron Menzies   Drums,Fx Vocals,Mellotron
Bud Gaugh   Drums
Jack Antonoff   Drums,Piano,Guitar,Keyboards,Percussion,Vibraphone,Synthesizer,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Evan Smith   Flute,Saxophone
Evan Thomas Weiss   Guitar
Loren Humphrey   Drums
Zachary Daves   Piano
Michael Riddleberger   Drums
Mikey Freedom Hart   Piano,Keyboards,Mellotron
Andrew Watt   Guitar
Zac Rae   Keyboards
David Levita   Guitar
Josh Freese   Drums
Phillip Peterson   Cello,Baritone,Trombone,Flugelhorn,Horn (Baritone)
Gayle Levant   Harp
Dean Reid   Guitar,Fx Vocals,Keyboards,Guitar (Bass)
Eric Wilson   Guitar (Bass)
Victoria Parker   Violin
Sean Hutchinson   Drums
Darren Weiss   Drums
Benji Lysaght   Guitar
Mighty Mike   Drums
Evan Weiss   Guitar
Woozy Biff   Harp

Technical Credits

Marshall Goodman   Composer
Rick Rubin   Composer
Kieron Menzies   Mixing,Effects,Engineer,Producer,Programming
Jack Antonoff   Mixing,Composer,Engineer,Producer,Programming
Adam Yauch   Composer
Travis Pavur   Assistant Engineer
Nicolas Jodoin   Assistant Engineer
Laura Sisk   Mixing,Engineer,Programming
John Fee   Assistant Engineer
Zachary Daves   Composer,Producer
Lana Del Rey   Composer,Engineer,Producer
Jon Sher   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Trevor Yasuda   Engineer
Andrew Watt   Mixing,Producer,Programming,Instrumentation
Serban Ghenea   Mixing
Chris Gehringer   Mastering
Will Quinnell   Mastering Assistant,Assistant Mastering Engineer
George Gershwin   Composer
Ira Gershwin   Composer
DuBose Heyward   Composer
John Congleton   Engineer
John Hanes   Mixing,Mixing Engineer
Ben Fletcher   Assistant Engineer
Adam Horovitz   Composer
Brad Nowell   Composer
Dean Reid   Mixing,Engineer,Producer,Programming,Effects Programming
Paul Lamalfa   Mixing,Engineer
David Kutch   Mastering
Andrew Wotman   Composer
MCA   Composer
Happy Perez   Producer
Mighty Mike   Producer,Programming
Dorothy Heyward   Composer
Greg Eliason   Assistant Engineer
Zach Dawes   Composer
Derrick Stockwell   Assistant Engineer
Bradley Nowell   Composer
Chris Rockwell   Assistant Engineer
Billy Cumella   Assistant Engineer
John Rooney   Assistant Engineer
Tate McDowell   Assistant Engineer
Louis Bell   Composer
John Christopher Fee   Assistant Engineer
Dave Kutch   Mastering
Rick Nowels   Composer,Producer