Børns - Blue Madonna

The Guardian 60

(Interscope Records)

Synthesised falsetto, snapping snares and the bovine fetishisation of youth: Michigan musician Garrett Borns’s second album sports many of the most ubiquitous tropes of contemporary pop. That can lend it a certain banality – opener God Save Our Young Blood, for instance, is characterised solely by hollow glamour (an aesthetic mastered by fellow manufacturer of listless minimalist pop, Lana Del Rey, who provides guest vocals) – but elsewhere there is slightly richer fare. We Don’t Care boasts a glam stomp softened for the palatability of Spotify playlist curators, while Sweet Dreams is a lightly psychedelic slice of sad-lad pop that bemoans the callousness of a lover while paying heavy homage to Tame Impala’s Currents. In fact, much of this record seems to resemble the Aussie band’s sad and groovy 2015 breakup album, from the full-bodied Faded Heart to shrill self-empowerment anthem I Don’t Want U Back (which could have easily slotted into a Little Mix tracklist). Its influences result in a record that is full of hypnotic melodies and easy charm, but you couldn’t claim Blue Madonna heralds the birth of a particularly distinctive talent.

The Guardian 60

(Polydor)

American singer Garrett Borns’s second album confidently returns to the sugary glam-influenced pop of his debut, without reheating its MGMT/Empire of the Sun stompers. Borns’s productions orchestrate a fabulous collision of nostalgia and futurism, but his songwriting rarely impresses and the lyrics lack depth. Lana Del Rey’s mannered passivity may be a boon when yoked to oversized personalities like A$AP Rocky, but on their dull duet God Save Our Young Blood, Del Rey and Borns’s blankness multiplies, two mirrors staring at each other. There are moments of transporting brilliance, particularly during Iceberg, Tension and Blue Madonna, but Borns’s best work is surely still to come.

Pitchfork 57

The second album from the rapidly ascending synth-pop artist Garrett Borns offers more of the same: great ideas constrained in songs that rarely allow them to come to fruition.