There is a topical appeal here, particularly because Lorde and Little do spend so much time on the surface, turning it into something seductive, but it is no more real than the studied detachment of Lana Del Rey, who Lorde so strongly (and intentionally) resembles. Where Lana Del Rey favors a studiously detached irony, Lorde pours it all out which, in itself, may be an act: her bedsit poetry is superficially more authentic but the music is certainly more pop, both in its construction - there are big hooks in the choruses and verses - and in the production, which accentuates a sad shimmer where everything is beautiful and broken. Lorde favors a tragic romanticism, an all-or-nothing melodrama that Little accentuates with his alternately moody and insistent productions. Lorde, as any pre-release review or portrait helpfully illustrated, was only 16 when she wrote and recorded Pure Heroine with producer Joel Little, and an adolescent aggrievance and angst certainly underpin the songs here. Lana Del Rey is a self-created starlet willing herself into stardom but Lorde fancies herself a poet, churning away at the darker recesses of her soul. Pure Heroine cannot be divorced from the youth of its singer given its themes, but I feel this is a boon to the record rather than a detriment. Especially this project, when considering how young she was when it was released. If this story in the early years of the 2010s brings to mind Lana Del Rey, it's no coincidence that it also applies to New Zealand singer/songwriter Lorde, whose 2013 debut, Pure Heroine, contains all of the stylized goth foreboding of LDR's Born to Die and almost none of the louche, languid glamour. IвЂ™m pretty late to the game when it comes to Lorde, but damn am I impressed when it comes to her work. She wrote on her own, then she was paired with a sympathetic producer/songwriter, live performances taking a back seat to woodshedding. With its echoing electro-pop, melancholic melodies, ennui-ridden vocals and savvy social commentary, Heroine is thought-provoking.

Signed to a major label at an early age, she was groomed in the darkness of studios, the label knowing the potential they had in their singer/songwriter. But what her debut makes clear is that the surprises up Lorde's sleeves don't end there: She also managed to infiltrate the pop charts with a contemplative indie sound weighted with a gravity beyond her 16 years.

Lorde pure heroine album 320kbps