On March 1, Faye Webster came out with her fifth record, Underdressed at the Symphony. An avant-garde blend of country, folk, R&B and so much more, it’s changed how I’ll see her music for a long time. Filled with all the emotional turmoil of a breakup, it’s crafted and placed delicately into a half hour long journey.
With melodies that cling, the opening track and one of my favorites, “Thinking About You,” is a love-song in its rawest form. It starts with a twinkly guitar riff and humming bassline dancing, entwined, closer and closer around your head. Webster comes in singing in her familiar aching voice, almost like a lullaby, “I’m asleep in the moment you’re holding my head / but I want to remember, I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” It’s a beautifully crafted song and the hook is a total earworm. It reminds me of one of the first things I noticed with this album, how nonsensical many of the lyrics are. “Thinking About You” is a great example of this; the song is plagued by the same line a dozen times, “I’m thinking about, thinking about you.” Although many people might find this boring, I think it’s what makes the track; the repetition of the line is similar to the constant loop of having someone on your mind.
The lead single, “But Not Kiss,” is heart wrenching. Webster starts the song with a voice like honey “I want to sleep in your arms, but not kiss.” There’s a short pause before it explodes, and hammering piano comes in while the bassline broods. The first time I heard this song the chorus tore me apart, her signature lap steel weeping before chords are quietly strummed, Webster breaks the silence and cries out in a shaky voice, so thin you’d fear it might shatter. “I want to see you in my dreams, but then forget.” Once again the instrumental swells. It’s as if the music is telling you how she feels, filling in for words not spoken. This song destroyed me; it’s like when you get that lump in your throat and boiling feeling in your chest before tearing up in sonic form. It’s exceptionally well written, produced and performed, as well as one of my favorite songs of hers.
The fourth track, “Lego Ring,” features rapper Lil Yachty, a childhood friend of Webster. Webster and Yachty sing longingly about wanting a Lego ring. “I know what I like, I know what I want, But you know I kinda need.” The fuzzed synthline and punchy piano singe your ears while Webster whines. Her signature slide hangs throughout the track. I always find myself in a different world for a moment when it comes on, and I love Yachty’s part near the end of the song. The instrumental dies down and quietly lingers for a moment before exploding, then Yachty comes in and delivers one of my favorite lines on the album. “Me and you, the dream team, always together like string beans.” I think the song is reflective of the recent, more psychedelic work Yachty has been doing like “the BLACK seminole” and sits as a good centerpiece for the album.
The whole album has a huge theme surrounding the idea of what being mature or independent means, particularly with tracks like “eBay Purchase History.” I feel like a lot of it is Webster showing how not everything has to be so serious. Songs “I Know You” from her self titled record Faye Webster and “Jonny” from Atlanta Millionaires Club had Webster shoehorned into the “Sad Girl” stereotype, which she tears apart in this record.
Though at its core Underdressed at the Symphony is a breakup album, Webster isn’t afraid to have fun. I really appreciate her willingness to try new things while keeping a balance. She has deeply heartfelt tracks like “But Not Kiss,” but also can laugh and goof off in tracks like “Feeling Good Today,” a song where she goes on an autotune fueled ramble about her day. I feel like this album really helps encapsulate Webster as a whole. She’s loose and carefree, but she’s also very capable and talented. I think very few modern artists are as genuine as she is and I admire her for that.
This whole album is so distinctly Webster I couldn’t imagine anyone else making it. She’s so dialed in to having a sound that is solely hers and she really holds true to it even while experimenting with new music. Overall, if you’re looking for something new and fresh, I would definitely recommend giving this album a listen. I found it to be a huge breath of fresh air compared to a lot of the other popular music I’ve heard lately, and with such a short runtime, it’s definitely worth a listen.
