While Cate Le Bon’s last album, 2019’s Reward, was written in relative seclusion in the Lake District, at least that was through choice. The disorienting pandemic isolation that was the backdrop to the creation of her sixth LP has resulted in a far more introspective record. Composed entirely alone (she’s described it as an “uninterrupted vacuum”) and recorded with her longstanding collaborator Samur Khouja, Pompeii is noticeably more subdued than much of her earlier work. Where once there was a playfulness in the arrangements, the slow and austere songs here sound as if they’re carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders.
There’s little respite in the lyrics either, which frequently add to the feeling of claustrophobia: “Did you see me putting pain in a stone?”, “I’m kicking at the corner/ Recycling air”. There are still plenty of moments to savour: a succinct guitar solo on Remembering Me that says all it needs to in 10 seconds; strident brass flourishes on Running Away; the relative lightness of touch on the gorgeous Moderation and Harbour; the occasional echoes of Julia Holter and mid-70s Bowie throughout. Indeed, on one level it works well as a companion piece to the collective lockdown experience, right down to the uniformity of pace and mood. Whether that’s a period anyone wishes to revisit, however, is a different matter.
