Marika Hackman – Any Human Friend

Marika HackmanAny Human Friend

On her fourth album, Marika Hackman has produced a record that sounds like the result of someone plunging deep inside herself and allowing the contents to gush to the surface. While it’s a personal, often raw and emotional record that explores identity and sex, it’s also one that avoids the trappings one may associate with such ‘confessional’ music.

It feels like an emboldened statement and as a result the music is charged and electric. From the pop-soaked The One to more guitar-heavy offerings such as I’m Not Where You Are, there’s a potency and swagger that radiates from Hackman musically. The melody is seamless and her voice glides gracefully between a gentle hum and more impassioned eruptions. The result is a record that can sound as intimate and vulnerable as it does excited and euphoric.

8/10
Daniel Dylan Wray