Indie pop star Lizzy McAlpine changed her tune this September when she released her newest album Angel.
McAlpine began releasing music in 2016 with her first song titled “Bite.” Her music is a unique blend of indie-pop, jazz, and folk that weaves acoustic sounds with studio recording techniques. She enjoys counterintuitive chord progressions paired with fingerpicking guitar melodies and lyrics that spin a story.
Older (and Wiser), McAlpine’s penultimate album released in 2025, is in complete juxtaposition with Angel . While Angel is themed around love, Older (and Wiser) centers around what it means to be broken.
Angel’s light tone is not a surprise since McAlpine revealed her relationship with musician and actor Kane Richotte. McAlpine featured Richotte in the music video for “The light in the painting.
The album itself is about an hour long with 14 tracks, three of which have music videos to go with them: “The light in the painting,” “Ugly things,” and “Over country.”
After listening to the album over a dozen times since it was released, I have fallen in love with its storytelling. The main theme is the different aspects of love, of which I see four.
In “A car wash and a new pair of pants,” McAlpine sings about a past relationship who only wanted her for fame, which connects to “Ugly things,” where she sings about a lover who is destroying everything to hurt her. These songs describe one aspect of love: heartbreak.
“Over country,” my favorite song on the album, talks about a love that perseveres over space, time, and understanding, and connects to “Mason’s song,” which also emphasizes a love without end. Here we see the most popular aspect of love: falling into it.
A third aspect of love is knowing oneself. “Peach,” the eighth track on the album, speaks of loving someone else but also taking “one step closer to myself.” It emphasizes that to love others, you must also care for yourself.
A song that might be overlooked, “The crowd,” speaks about McAlpine’s late father who passed away in 2020. The song illustrates McAlpine’s desire to make her father proud and how she wishes she had told him she loved him more. This aspect of love is familial, leading us back to our roots.
Her lyrics are not her only strong suit. McAlpine has always had a talent for interesting chord progressions, and this album is no different, with her jazz roots coming out especially in the bridges of her songs.
In this album, the music plays a huge role in setting the tone. McAlpine balances moods well while also introducing new studio sounds and keeping her acoustic style. The whole album has an ethereal feeling to it, which matches the title, Angel.
Angel is a well-thought-out work capturing the different aspects of love thoughtfully and engagingly. Because of the intentional storytelling and lovely melodies, I would definitely recommend this album, and will be listening to it at least a dozen more times!