With 2023's Desire, I Want to Turn into You, Caroline Polachek conjures her own Europop fantasy island. Written and recorded with her longtime collaborator Danny L. Harle, Desire, I Want to Turn into You finds Polachek unapologetically embracing her inner pop diva, purposefully referencing a '90s and early-2000s pop aesthetic. This is an album of balmy trip-hop grooves, where electric bass riffs, finger-snap beats, and sky-blue synths caress her angelically swooping vocals like dolphins chasing a boat. It's an immediately evocative vibe that she commits to, deftly walking a fine line between earnest romanticism and artful irony. Polachek is no stranger to cool indie stances having spent the early part of her career as one half of the electro duo Chairlift, a band who often played with their image and left fans to guess if their intentions were more art or pop. She carried this approach into her solo work with 2014's Arcadia (recorded under the alter ego Ramona Lisa) and 2019's Pang, both of which showcased her baroque, synth-based style. While none of the influences on Desire feel completely ironic and all of the emotions feel earned, there is a sense of humor at play. It's a wry artifice that Polachek commands throughout, whether it's her spoken word rap on "Welcome to My Island" or the way she dances through the glass-mirror harmonies of "Billions" like Enya feeling herself after a difficult divorce. She even joins forces with guests Grimes and Dido on "Fly to You," an anthemic pastel snow cone of early-2000s new age techno that presents the singers as a kind of Three Muses of electro-pop. There's also the sultry flamenco intensity of "Sunset" and clubby R&B of "Bunny Is a Rider." Adding emotional weight to Polachek's luminous pop is the sense that she's working through some tough experiences. Desire was recorded in the wake of her father's death from COVID-19 in 2020, a person with whom she purportedly had a difficult relationship. His spirit hangs Prospero-like over the album, especially on the opening "Welcome to My Island" where Polachek sings, "I am my father's daughter in the end/He says watch your ego, watch your head girl/You're so smart so talented/But now the water's turning red/And it's all your fault and it's all your mess." With Desire, I Want to Turn into You, Polachek breaks free from outside expectations and transforms her inner anxieties into an intoxicating pop euphoria. ~ Matt Collar