beabadoobee's Pylon struggles to live up to her strengths

The British singer/songwriter was just 18 years old at the time, but the comments on the video were distinguishing her as an old soul, with the verses’ muted, chugging guitars and charming lyrics harkening back to '90s pop-rock. Those comments were right. Laus has made it very clear over the course of her career that her biggest influences are the indie titans of the '90s, particularly Elliott Smith and Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus. The former she made merch inspired by, covered in two separate charity compilations, and name dropped in a song; the latter, she named a song after directly. That vision came to fruition with her sorely overlooked 2020 debut Fake It Flowers. The grittiness of the record’s guitar tones exemplified on “Sorry” and “Yoshimi, Forest, Magdalene” and the lyrical sassiness of songs like “Dye It Red” and “Care” positioned her as a true rockstar in the making. Unfortunately, though, beabadoobee’s most quantifiable successes have been her less intentional moments. The cutesy stage name she chose as a teenager has pigeonholed what one may expect from her music: perhaps it sounds more like her breakout single “Coffee” or the Valentine’s Day Instagram story stap...