Nicole Dollanganger - Heart Shaped Bed (October 26, 2018) Album • Page 2

Nicole Dollanganger: Taboo-Pushing Chanteuse Shaped by Hardcore and Horror

There you go.

 

Thanks so much!

 

October 26th!!

 

Yeah, just saw that earlier. Finally! :)

Only a month away.

I'm just imagining myself listening to this while doing something mindless and sinking into another realm.

 

her and justice tripp in one of the promos

 

Second half is really meh. That's bumming me out, after this huge wait.

Makes me even sadder to know she's scrapped an entire concept album (hillbilly noir) and tons of other songs along the way....to land on this?

The new version of "Chapel" is ruined, the mixing is terrible.

The new version of "Bad & Beautiful" is fine, but we already had this song a year ago too. So whatever.

"Snake" is terrible, hardly even a song. Really not sure what's going on there. Her voice is SOOO loud in the mix that I have to actually turn my headphones down. It's like the track wasn't equalized or something (same with the new version of Chapel)?

So there's 3 tracks out of SideB that are meh, or we already heard. So that leaves only "Only Angels Have Wings" and "Lacrymaria Olor".

"Only Angels Have Wings" is good. It's nothing outstanding, but it's a classic Nicole song. The lyrics are a little restrained. She's talked about wanting to be more vague and not as graphic lyrically anymore, which is disappointing imo. The thing that attracted me to her music was the vulnerability and openness (even about taboo subjects). I do like this song quite a bit though.

And then we're left with "Lacrymaria Olor". I can appreciate she's trying some new things on this track. I enjoy her pitched up voice at the beginning and end. The meat of the song does feel boring to me though, especially for a closer. The chorus just doesn't do much for me.

With all that being said though, I do want to be clear, "Natural Born Losers" is a 5/5 classic, masterpiece, album for me. I think Nicole is capable of making some really incredible stuff.

And I think the "Side A"(the first 5 tracks she released like 2 years ago), are still fantastic. They're just kind of old-news at this point though.

It's a shame the second-half of the album brings it down so much. The second half really feels like a mess and doesn't mesh with SideA, imo(aside from maybe "Only Angels Have Wings"). I am especially not sure what she was thinking with this version of Chapel, the mixing is atrocious.

"Uncle", "Chapel", "Lemonade", "Beautiful & Bad", are all old tracks (some *very* old).

So if we exclude "snake" (doesnt even feel like an actual song), we're left with 5 actual new songs on this entire album. And 3 of those 5 "new" tracks, we've had for 2 years from SideA. Which only leaves "Angels" and "Lacrymaria Olor" as new material.

For how much we waited, and how much she scrapped, this is a disappointment.

Though, I'm still happy we have new Nicole music.

 

I agree. I waited to spend time with the first half and never really listened to the singles when they were released so it's all new to me but I'm still a bit confused why they're on here since it took half a year to finish the bside. Also definitely sad to hear she wants to be less specific and graphic with her lyrics, I think those were two of her biggest strengths and really made her song writing unique.

 

I didn't listen to SideA a ton either, probably 10 times over the last 2 years. I wanted it to remain fresh, and it did. But it doesn't change the fact that the songs have been out for almost 2 years already.

So 2 years later, getting 2 new songs, and the other 3 being remixes(or just bad, like Snake)....bums me out.

Chapel is a pretty old song of hers, yeah. It's been released multiple times already in various forms. Really not sure why it's taking up a spot on here. Especially this new version of Chapel(it's terrible).

Chapel and Snake are a complete waste of space on the album. If they were replaced with other new songs, I'd be somewhat satisfied with this album(though the restrained lyrics are a drag either way).

It sounds like she got awkward about saying some of the graphic stuff in front of live audiences, which I can understand. But I'd almost just rather her make the art she wants, and just skip touring then? Personally.

I realize that's probably unreasonable for her to make a living though. But it sounds like she doesn't even like touring to begin with in most interviews.

She mentioned the concept album (Hillbilly noir) would be coming way down the road possibly. Why? Why not just make it now. Why scrap that for this?

I dont know. Something about this whole albums cycle, and creation, seems weird. I'd love a tell-all, deep-dive, interview into what happened. Feels like it was over-thought too much and lost what makes it special. Especially this second-half.

These are my hot-takes, I'm only 8 listens in.

 

I agree with a lot of those points, but I think I'm a little more charitable in the long run. I avoided listening to side A so the whole thing would be fresh. The discrepancy in mixing/mastering is the thing that is weird to me. The first 5 songs are cohesive, but then Snake comes in and is incredibly loud and doesn't fit in. I don't hate the song, I kind of think it's cool that she's doing something experimental and almost like a sound collage, but it just sticks out on a technical level. It's pretty weird.
That being said, I think there are some great songs here. Her voice is still really beautiful, and I really enjoy the melodies. It's more understated than NBL, and I think that works really well. Tammy Faye is one of her better songs.

 

Yeah, seriously, right? What is with "Snake". It feels like an interlude track, but it's like 2 minutes long. It's just this weird, sound collage(as you put it), in the middle of the album....and it's insanely loud. It feels amateur how much the mixing is off there too.

I dont mind her getting weird, but I don't think she's pulls it off on that song at all. That song just sounds like a mess and the mixing almost makes it almost unbearable.

I totally agree, I think there are some classic N.D. songs on here. But they're mostly in SideA (that we've already had for 2 years).

With the only "new" material being SideB...which consists of 2 old tracks (remixed, for the worse) and 3 new ones (if we count "Snake"). Out of SideB (not counting the old songs on sideB), I think the only track that's great is "Only Angels Have Wings".

 

Agree about the weird mixing and the new versions of Chapel and Beautiful & Bad not being as good as the original versions but I do enjoy this quite a bit.

 

Digging that new song. Excited for the new record.

 

New track out now and new album out in Jan 2023!