Kelsey Lu
So Help Me God
DIRTY HIT
Over the past decade, Nigerian-American multi-instrumentalist Kelsey Lu has quietly been building one of the most compelling modern art-pop discographies. Whether concocting ambient, classical songs (“Letting Go” for the soundtrack to 2024’s Earth Mama) or Kate Bush–inspired pop music (“Poor Fake” from her 2019 debut), Lu has the mental dexterity to build a vast oeuvre across genre lines, utilizing their classically trained ear in their arrangements to aid in crafting compositions unified by lushness and complexity. On their second album, So Help Me God, Lu tapped Jack Antonoff and Yves Rothman to help create a fascinating tapestry of vibrant material traversing everything from pop, R&B, and electronica to classical, folk, and everything avant-garde in between.
Across these songs, Lu poetically attacks the patriarchy on “Reaper” and dabbles with yearning and queer desire on “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” the latter titled in reference to Céline Sciamma’s 2019 film of the same name. Lu also plays with form by making a song in the structure of a sonnet on the aptly named “American Sonnet.” Meanwhile, So Help Me God’s production stands out due to its fine-tuned quality in the hands of Lu, Antonoff, and Rothman, as every song is meticulously layered and rich with texture. “What Can I Do” has a quaint, warm atmosphere, making it folky and nearly fit for a campfire. The chimes in the back of the mix give the track a floaty and dreamy mood.
Elsewhere, “Running to Pain” changes the mood somewhat with its dance-pop flair, but its production and vocal style keep it in theme with the rest of the record. In fact, Lu jumps around genres on multiple tracks, skillfully maintaining cohesion while juggling diverse styles. An introspective track with modern-classical instrumentation, “American Sonnet” still works alongside songs like the lush experimental-R&B production on “Better Than That,” wherein Lu sings about smoking blunts and moving on from a tumultuous relationship, the pop anthem “Cutting Off the Head of a Ghost,” which is a call to cut ties with the past, and the ethereal display of coruscating vocals on “Only the Lonely” (it’s less clear whether this song, too, is an homage to the film of its title).
So Help Me God is a fascinating pop album that brings together influences that may not typically cohere very well: sounds familiar to the discographies of Kim Gordon and Kamasi Washington (both of whom contributed to the new record) landing alongside dance-pop anthems, classical strings, folky love songs, and poetic verse. Lu makes it work, though, achieving a high-wire act that’s quite impressive.
