Billie Ellish - WHEN WE SLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO

Billie Ellish - WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO

Loathe as I am to admit it, California emits some pretty cool shit. Kendrick Lamar and Vince Staples are two of the bigger rap stars in the world. FEVER 333 are bringing hard-style to the mainstream. Even FIDLAR are making being uncool look desirable. Enter the 17-year old Billie Ellish, the family-assisted/self-made star who has moulded the internet to her own whims. Where others have struggled to adapt to the YouTube algorithms, Ellish was born in the social media era, moulded by it, and has yet to fall prey to its psycho-social tendencies. Her debut album, ‘WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO,’ is a microcosm for the subtle intricacies and cynicism that comes with a developmental period that is subject to global scrutiny and access. And damn if it isn’t impressive.

The teen described her debutant effort to billboard.com as a “coming of age” moment. A mysterious, absurd album that has its roots in her own personal horror show (Ellish has suffered from sleep paralysis and night terrors from a young age), Ellish wrote and produced this album from her own bedroom with her brother. Perhaps this is why it hits so hard, why it's dark, sad, anger seems so deeply personal, and why every laugh seems directed AT you rather than WITH you.

When interviewed by NME last year, Ellish stated “people underestimate the power of a young mind,” an ethos which she has seemed to carry forth. Indeed, ‘WHEN…’ feels like a form of resistance to the norm, to what is expected, to everyone who wants to tell you what to do. While some will dismiss the album as a personification of angsty teenage arrogance, one can't help but feel that for Ellish, the feeling of dismissal is mutual. Smarter than it appears and deceptively complex, the L.A. native’s debut album is a modern sonic marvel, lined by a landscape of trap, electronica, pop, rock and rap, fronted at all times by a ‘playful’ sneer is anything but. Her darkest moments have a genuine disdain for humanity, while her mournful croons are all too believable amidst her subdued, frightening instrumentals.

Despite her propensity for interludes (the album opens with an interaction between her and her brother that involves guttural sounds, a retainer and a free-spirited guffaw) and an offbeat narrative, the flow of Ellish’s record is remarkably smooth and feels custom built for this generation. ‘all good girls go to hell’ has a standard trap beat, offset by creepy, raspy vocals and a backbone that seems cut from a remix of The Chronic and Blood Sugar Sex Magick. This subversion between the beat, rhythm and delivery is paramount throughout and is integral to the spirit of the album. It is both quintessentially Californian and not, rooted in popular culture, but also holding it with contempt. ‘WHEN…’ has all the hallmarks of a groundbreaking record despite trying its best to separate itself from any such categorisation. It delights in pairing the recognisable and the challenging, taking the familiar and turning it on its head even if just to see the frustrated faces staring back at it. Ellish’s ethereal moan rings out over her meld of contemporary mainstream elements, taking an indelicate delight in directing their tenets left field. A grotesque, Frankenstein-esque amalgamation of the darkest elements of pop music given a cruel, impish juxtaposition by Ellish's whispered intonation, this is the essential album for people who take a guilty pleasure in confronting themselves.

The most amusing aspect of this debutant creation however, is how it contents itself in flipping the bird at the very culture the would pertain to accept it. It pokes fun at the scene that values substance abuse (“I must be missing something, they just keep doing nothing”), social media (“Your silence is my favourite sound”) and pseudo-spirituality (“Pearly gates look more like a picket fence”). Its petulance, which draws strength from the relentless chutzpah of teenage audacity, leads to an isolation that Ellish seems only too happy to occupy. ‘WHEN…’ exists on the fringe, in between what is expected, accepted and shocking. Evidence of this is clear during its instrumentation and even in the title, a query that ponders the existence of margins. Indeed, that’s where Ellish seems to have planted her flag, in a musical limbo consisting of bassy - flatulence, a ghastly articulation, crepuscular acoustics and hairy distortion. Whether it be the contemporary funk and sharp rhetoric of ‘my strange addiction,’ the shadowy, strolling thump and muted tribal snarl  of ‘bury a friend’ or the booming, crocodile tears of ‘listen before i go,’ ‘WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO’ is an aural creation of daunting results. 

Sounding like the backing track for a movie that should never have existed, it's a formidable modern album that proves there is plenty of fresh sounds out there for those looking for them. And as it ends, with the operatic pleading of ‘goodbye,’ I was struck by how it could only ever end with this sticky whisper. Anything other than a low, distorted death rattle would have seemed out of place on this tracklist of funny, haunting tunes. A soundtrack for a generation on the precipice of madness, Ellish has unleashed a masterclass in suspense and surprise, one which is worthy of many a listen.