Molly Burch was on tour with indie pop group
Tennis when the Covid-19 pandemic shut down venues across the U.S. Instead of heading back home to Austin, she and her backing band accepted an invitation to go to
Tennis' home studio in Denver to work on what would become her fourth album,
Romantic Images.
Tennis'
Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley produced and also played on the record. A fairly major diversion from
Burch's prior torch song retro pop, this opts for shimmery synths, disco beats, and what is on average a more uplifting, self-preserving demeanor. There's still plenty of yearning and disappointment to be found within, but it's part of the journey instead of the central idea. Introducing the album's ethereal disco-pop is opener "Control," which finds
Burch struggling with commitment as instrumentation alternates between piano with pop-style drum kit and airy, string-like synths paired with pulsing dance rhythms. She blends disco and '80s keyboard pop on "Took a Minute" ("But I found you, baby"), which highlights the singer's pouty, seductive mid-range that has been her wheelhouse to this point alongside the soaring, breathy notes that comprise the majority of
Romantic Images' choruses. About a third of the way through, the title track dives deep into desire and desperation with theatrical synth balladry ("Dyin' for you to tell me I'm all you're thinking of"), but by closer "Back in Time," the protagonist has learned: "I want to try harder to love myself the way I would another." In between, the funky, dance-oriented "Emotion" features Captured Tracks labelmate
Wild Nothing. While coming off somewhat like a late-period album by a vocal-era star, the performances and material on
Romantic Images still have the goods. ~ Marcy Donelson