Returning after a four-year gap, Brooklyner
Margaret Glaspy takes somewhat of a left turn on
Devotion, her sophomore outing for ATO Records. Largely abandoning the edgy, electric guitar-based confessionalism of her 2016 debut,
Emotions and Math, she takes a lusher and more varied approach here, turning a collection of ambitious love songs which range from sweet and intimate to thorny and sensual. Even before her debut,
Glaspy had begun to make her name on a personal brand of smart, literate guitar pop with a bit of a bluesy growl not unlike
Fiona Apple's, though ultimately a shade less dangerous. She applies that same emotional intelligence to
Devotion's amorous themes on standouts like the elegant "Heartbreak" and "Consequences" whose dizzying experimental production resembles love's woozy disorientation. She can still write a solid pop song, too, with the laid-back groove of "Stay with Me" among her best. The most noticeable evolution from her earlier work, however, is
Devotion's dense mix of electronic beats and flourishes along with the introduction of piano and keyboards which drive many of the songs. The tricky guitar playing that was a highlight of her debut is significantly downplayed and the fussy production sometimes gets in the way of songs that might better represent themselves in a more organic manner. On the other hand,
Glaspy has more or less tamped down her previously distracting vocal affectations in favor of a more sonorous style that really suits the material. Overall, she adds a handful of unique entries into the love song canon while pushing her own body of work forward. ~ Timothy Monger