(Track from album, “Born To Die”)
Lana Del Rey is an intriguing presence on the music scene at the moment; from nowhere came this apparant goddess, and, initially, she looked as though she had fallen through time from a 1950s 'dream home' catalogue. This picturesque beauty is the front to her music, manifesting itself as both the consumerist ideals subtly hidden in the imagery and the fonts used on the artwork, but also in her own appearance, never less than 100% polished; golden curls, bright lipstick and clean cut, crisp clothing in striking colours - she is a bizarre beacon of hope for music, in, at least, appearance - so what is the sound like?
Its amazing. The studio version opens, as many of the songs do, with radio-static-esque bleeps and buzzes, with the odd 50s electric guitar twang thrown in. At 0:36, the real Lana Del Rey sound explodes into earshot, slow, waltzing poetic verses of agony, with loud, but beautiful musical accompaniment, executed brilliantly alongside seemingly out of place thick and heavy, filter-dubbed drum beats. Complete with synthetic strings, its the ideal pop song; slightly edgy and with truly US indie roots, but still open to the radio mainstream and yet entirely accomplished and successful in its nuances and atmosphere. The singles from this album achieve all of these to varying degrees of success, but really, this track does it perfectly, with perhaps a little more of the indie side standing out to this writer...
The lyrics are also great. In all of her songs, the narrator is a kind of bad girl turned good, feeling guilty but also desperate; its another intriguing characteristic to the music. Its very human, in its two-facedness also. The opening line, 'Everything I want I have, money, notoriety, rivieras' feels juxtaposed somewhat with the chorus' tormented exclamation of fragility; 'Nothing without you'. Again, quite beautiful, but with a dark edge, something perhaps less common in music today where bands like Radiohead had it all covered 15, 16, 17 years ago...
As is the case with many of music's gems, there is a lesser known, but far superior version. The piano demo (which you can find below, as well as the original track) is candid and haunting, esepcially as the twin-layered vocal track is fired staunchly through the left and right stereo passes. It's got (unbelievably) more beauty to it, feeling more raw and original and less well produced and fake.
Even having heard and loved both versions, I too, wouldn't have bothered releasing this as a single. Its a lovely way of spicing up the normally fading second side of an album. It would be a waste to have it blaring out of the radio as a single track; I also think it works best in context with the rest of "Born To Die".
Either way - its very different and very strange. Very. You won't find anything else quite as audibly striking in this year's chart. the current album, "Born To Die" has been the singer's first real commercial success, after a few failed attempts at succeeding in the music industry. This, approximately her third regeneration, has sat well with the music-buying public, who, whilst perhaps unaware of the genius of the songwriting, recognise the very unique quality of her delivery.
Its debatable, however, just how significant Del Rey's involvement has been with the actual writing process, and, though she is co-credited on every one of the album's songs, it is worth considering that the first two, poorly performing efforts, were, almost entirely, written solo...
Have a listen to this. You will, no doubt, be well aware of "Video Games" and "Blue Jeans", but this one's different. Its smooth and its real; much less of a facade than the others, but still with all the style and class.
Go on. 'Live on the dark side of the American dream'...
★★★★★
Versions of "Without You"
Album Version – 3:49
Demo Version – 3:10