Older

by Lizzy McAlpine

Overview

On her third album, 2024's Older, singer/songwriter Lizzy McAlpine catches you off guard, crafting songs that are as lyrical and delicately rendered as they are affecting. If you haven't listened to McAlpine, you might be surprised by the emotional weight and nuanced musical sophistication at play in her work. While sharing the same creative musical space as Taylor Swift and Maggie Rogers, McAlpine has quietly carved out her own place in the contemporary pop landscape, crafting intimate, folky songs that sound like well-honed diary entries. It's a deeply enveloping vibe that made both her 2020 debut and her 2022 follow-up such unexpected delights, and she digs further into that vibe on Older. She also digs deeper musically, working closely with her collaborators, who include Mason Stoops, Ryan Lerman, Jeremy Most, and Tony Berg crafting beautifully attenuated piano and acoustic guitar arrangements. She also weaves in other unexpected instrumental sounds, framing her hushed, yet resonant vocals in dreamy pedal steel guitar on "The Elevator," woody reeds on "All Falls Down," and orchestral strings on "Broken Glass. " Though the term "break-up album" feels reductive when describing the nuanced emotions at play on Older, there's definitely a sense that McAlpine is working through some heartbreak. She walks the listener through her memories, setting you up to laugh with a cute romantic moment that hides a deeper wound. It's a poignantly dichotomous vibe she conjures throughout Older, as on "I Guess," where she returns to a warm moment out somewhere with her lover, singing, "I'll tell a lie just to bring you home/We dance together/You're not that good." Later, after they've gone home, she reveals, "Now I am sick, and You're probably drunk/You're saying things and they sound like love." It's that sound of love, the fantasy vs. the reality of a relationship, that fascinates McAlpine and makes Older such a lovely and bittersweet experience. ~ Matt Collar

Product Details

Release Date:	04/05/2024
Label:	Rca
UPC:	0196588448928

Tracks

1. The Elevator
2. Come Down Soon
3. Like It Tends To Do
4. Movie Star
5. All Falls Down
6. Staying
7. I Guess
8. Drunk, Running
9. Broken Glass
10. You Forced Me To
11. Older
12. Better Than This
13. March
14. Vortex

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Lizzy McAlpine   Primary Artist,Organ,Piano,Guitar,Mellotron
Taylor Mackall   Mellotron,Synthesizer,Vocals (Background),Organ,Piano,Guitar
Mason Stoops   Bass,Guitar,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Tyler Nuffer   Guitar,Vocals (Background)
Jake Nuffer   Guitar
Michael Libramanto   Bass,Drums,Guitar,Vocals (Background)
Ryan Richter   Guitar (Steel),Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background),Guitar
Aaron Sterling   Drums
Sean Hurley   Bass
Jeremy Most   Piano
CJ Camerieri   Trumpet,Flugelhorn,French Horn
Ryan Lerman   Guitar
Ted Poor   Drums
Jon Brion   Piano
Pino Palladino   Bass
Matt Chamberlain   Drums
Rob Moose   Strings
Jacob Scesney   Woodwind
Rob Humphreys   Drums
Sam Ks   Drums

Technical Credits

Ryan Lerman   Composer,Lyricist,Producer
Ethan Gruska   Composer,Lyricist
Andrew Sarlo   Mixing Engineer
Taylor Mackall   Producer,Composer,Lyricist
Mason Stoops   Composer,Lyricist,Producer
Lizzy McAlpine   Producer
Dave Kutch   Mastering Engineer
Elizabeth McAlpine   Composer,Lyricist
Olivia Barton   Composer,Lyricist
Jeremy Most   Composer,Lyricist,Producer
Tony Berg   Producer
Greg Koller   Engineer
Jesse Honig   Engineer