Years & Years Explore Sin and Sensuality: 'Palo Santo' Review

"For anybody listening, I just hope it makes them feel inspired to get a little freaky, be a little weirder, and be a little sensual."- Olly Alexander, lead singer of Years & Years.

English synth-pop band, Years & Years just dropped their sophomore album and although it is not as catchy as their first album Communion, which dropped three years ago around the same time, there is no doubt that Palo Santo has many strengths, including a rebellious and almost humorous tone that the first album lacked and replaced with submission. Unlike Communion, their sophomore album is groundbreaking in how it creates a new reality and gives the audience a closer look at Olly Alexander's relationships and heartbreak as well as his sexual expression and sensual nature.

The title of the album Palo Santo, or Holy Wood references a South American mystical tree. When burned, the wood gives off a healing power. The significance of the title matches up with Alexander's goal to heal his fans through his music who are struggling with their identity.

Most of the songs are very good, and differ from each other, giving the album room to breathe and expand, while providing the audience with an inside look into Olly Alexander's past sexcapades and romances. In the first single of the album, "Sanctify," Alexander details a past romance with a closeted gay lover, encouraging his lover to open up to him. It is possible that Alexander was once the man he is singing to, afraid to accept who he really was, and is now giving his new lover the encouragement to remove his mask. The song's pop beat stands as a strong opening for the album, setting up the recurring theme of Alexander's complex relationships with straight-identifying men, which is brought up again in the song "Preacher." In "Preacher," Alexander compares his lover to a preacher and describes his temptations which his lover cannot escape. The only thing that connects "Sanctify" and "Preacher" is his role in trying to uncover the lies that his straight-identifying lovers have covered up.

In "Rendezvous," Alexander explores sensuality, and details a physical love affair with a man who is in disguise. It is one of the album's most upbeat songs on the album, setting up both a dark, sensual setting to the listener while giving the listener a catchy hit to dance to. Alexander plays with humor and explores sin in the upbeat dance-pop tune, "Karma" where he questions whether Karma will get him back for all that he's done, but refuses to apologize for who he is. Alexander is most likely hinting about his sexuality, and his refusal to erase his sexual past.

The one song that stands apart from the rest, titled, "Hypnotised" is one of the album's strongest songs due to its cinematic and sensual melody. The song sets up a mystical setting where Alexander is hypnotized in a world where he is not afraid to be who he is, and where he can fall in love and receive the pleasures and wonders of this mystical setting. The power and wonder in Alexander's voice set a setting of the perfect lover in a perfect world that Alexander has created.

The least effective songs on the album such as, "The Lucky Escape," "All For You," and "If You're Over Me," dive into heartbreak and being betrayed by a lover, but do not add much substance to the album. The songs lack the catchy, groundbreaking aura that the album presents off the bat. Alexander gives the listener much more substance in his last song, "Here." The interlude is somber and brief but proves to be a good addition to an album that focuses on everything from exploring sin and sensuality to losing a lover. The song "Palo Santo," which explores Alexander's inner demons would have been a more reasonable song to end with, due to the song's significance as the name of the album and its interesting melody.

The Verdict

Overall, the album dives into many of the things that Communion did not, and proved to be as revealing as Alexander promised. Although not every song proved to be as powerful as one might have hoped, Alexander leaves nothing to the imagination, and bares it all, while providing a pop beat to dance to.

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