Los Angeles-based cellist and singer-songwriter Kelsey Lu’s sophomore release is a juggernaut. Its ten songs demand that the listener be mentally and emotionally invested in them. But once on the other side of the album, instead of feeling exhausted, you feel anew, as if you just went through some kind of a transformational experience.
Musically, So Help Me God feels as if chamber pop was an active volcano: it is beautiful, powerful, and furious in a manner that is surreal. The violins and cellos are menacing as well as comforting. Their interplay with sometimes dramatic and sometimes subtle synths and production effects seems to have a life of its own, as if the musical arrangement is a living and breathing organism: unpredictable and full of wonder.
Lu’s singing is a force itself. An embodiment of all of their many influences—from jazz, pop, to experimental—their singing style is as diverse as it is majestic. They use their vocal abilities as a superpower with the confidence of a superhero.
Lu has the boldness to challenge the listener outright on the over eight-minute opener “Reaper” with a long section in the middle where the song gets suspended in a state of dreamy nothingness before Lu rescues it with a verse—sounding like it could be from a different song—neatly bookending the number.
There are just three catchy tracks here: the rousing choruses and somewhat simpler compositions of “Comfort” and “Cutting Off The Head Of A Ghost” can pass as “catchy” in the context of this album. The only genuinely catchy track here is “Running To Pain” which has conventional indie pop vibes with ebullient beats, lush vocals, and a melancholic but uplifting melody. But the real standouts are the more difficult numbers like “American Sonnet,” “852,” and “Better Than That,” where the challenge of trying to wrap your head around them itself is much more rewarding.
One needs a whole lot of audacity and vision to pull off a record as grand and intricately complex as this one. Although you can sense the weight that Lu must have carried while writing and recording this album, all you feel is giddiness with awe, thanks to the poise and sublimeness with which Lu have realized their audacious vision.