Following the highly successful release of their debut album in 2010, Allo Darlin’ embarked on a yearlong tour across the US, UK, and Europe. It was during this intense period of time that the group managed to write their second album, the aptly titled Europe. Europe maintains all of those things we loved about Darlin’s eponymous album but with a decidedly melancholy turn. Elizabeth Morris’ once fragile voice has begun to sound more self-assured and the sound of her ukulele is now deeply buried beneath battering drums and playful guitars. Europe’s lyrics grapple with mixed feelings—the joys of seeing the world, playing music, and meeting new people compete with the frustrations of constantly changing scenery, depressingly empty wallets, and missing one’s friends. Europe is an album about being in-between.
The group’s second album sticks, sometimes almost exactly, to the formula that made them so likeable in the first place. Their self-titled album’s ukulele ballad “Heartbeat Chilli” is Europe’s “Tallulah” and the male/female vocals from “Dreaming” are found again on the rocky “Still Young.” The arrangements on this album remain simple and the lyrical sentiments sometimes so straightforward they might sound embarrassing if spoken aloud, but accompanied by Darlin’s bubbly rhythms and Morris’ voice, they sound like a true testament to our lives. The songs still center around themes of youth, displacement, money trouble, and insecurity, with Morris constantly hurrying between daydreaming and keeping her eyes wide open, so as not to miss anything, in the ever-fleeting present. In “Some People Say,” a song that explores the possibilities of the future through remembering the past, she sings “some people say stars and planets make the way/ and some things can never change/ and some people believe you can wish on satellites for your dreams/ I wish some things could stay the same.”
Luckily for us, some things have changed. Allo Darlin’ has (mostly) dropped all of the tiring pop-culture references of their last album. Instead of another homage to filmmakers (like “Woody Allen” on Allo Darlin’), Europe has “Neil Armstrong.” Surprisingly, however, the song is less about the famous astronaut and more about feelings of detachment and loneliness (“They didn’t put a man on the moon, we just needed someone to prove all this floating is worth doing”). The first single, “Capricornia”, recalls more established bands The Lucksmiths or Tender Trap (of which Morris was a member when they reformed in 2009). It’s nice to see a band grow, even when it means exposing some of their growing pains, and Europe leaves us excited to see where Allo Darlin’ will go next.
