RED VINYL

Bea Kristi's post-Beatopia projects hinted that Beabadoobee might be entering a new phase. Her tender 2023 Valentine's Day single "Glue Song" and the Laufey collaboration "A Night to Remember" suggested a more poised and reflective incarnation of her music was on the way, and This Is How Tomorrow Moves confirms that hunch. As befitting an artist who appeared on Taylor Swift's Eras tour and worked with producer Rick Rubin, Beabadoobee's third album is, musically and lyrically, her most mature to date. She makes both aspects immediately apparent on the slinky, self-aware opener "Take a Bite," which nods to vintage adult alternative sounds in its shuffling groove as Kristi acknowledges how tempted she is by self-destructive behavior -- and how she's not ready to break those patterns yet. She's just as transparent on "Girl Song," a painfully honest accounting of all her insecurities, and on "Tie My Shoes," where she connects her relationship troubles to her issues with father over glossy production that sounds light years away from her earlier work. Working with Rubin allows Beabadoobee to fully realize the different sounds she tried out on Beatopia. She gives her jazzy leanings more heft with the bossa nova rhythms of "A Cruel Affair" and the brushed drums and syncopated rhythms that back "Real Man"'s come-ons and putdowns. When she harks back to the '90s, her touchstone is Elliott Smith rather than Pavement or Sonic Youth, whether she invokes him directly on the wry closing track "This Is How It Went" or borrows his fondness for waltz rhythms and Beatlesque melodies on "Coming Home" and the domestic bliss of "One Time." Kristi still sounds amazing on the handful of tracks where she's in front of a swelling crest of guitars, like "Beaches," "California," and "Post," but it's clear that this sound is just one part of her music instead of the main event on This Is How Tomorrow Moves. Fortunately, it feels more like a continuation of her artistic restlessness than an effort to distance herself from her past, especially when forays into folk and country like "Everything I Want" and "Ever Seen" (which she wrote while touring with Swift) sound more winning and genuine than could've been imagined. Beabadoobee refuses to be boxed in as she grows as a woman and artist, and on This Is How Tomorrow Moves, she dares her listeners to keep up with her changes.

A1        Take A Bite
A2        California
A3        One Time
A4        Real Man
A5        Tie My Shoes
A6        Girl Song
A7        Coming Home
B8        Ever Seen
B9        A Cruel Affair
B10        Post
B11        Beaches
B12        Everything I Want
B13        The Man Who Left Too Soon
B14        This Is How It Went