Album Review: Cape God by Allie X

It's hard to imagine any fan of Allie X's dark, shiny pop will be displeased with Cape God. The new record by the classically trained performer turned electro-goth idol elegantly blends the new and old styles of Alexandra Ashley Hughes to create the artist's best work yet. There's a carefully crafted grit and griminess to the instrumentals that telegraph a sense of impending doom even before X's vocals arrive. Previous records have worked similarly, featuring non-vocal parts just as memorable as the melodies, but here they feel more communicative. Every part of the record is talking to you..

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At first listen, it would appear that Allie X (otherwise known as Alexandra Hughes)’s second album, Cape God, is one of those big, shiny alternative pop albums to be filed alongside the likes of Charli XCX and Marina (who she has both toured with). After a few more hearings though, it becomes clear that Cape God has an experimental edge to it that makes it one of the most delightfully weirdest albums of the year. For example the opening track Fresh Laundry, appears to be simply an ode to sleeping in freshly washed bedsheets.

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The glassine synthpop Allie Hughes crafts as Allie X often serves as a Trojan horse for the eccentric personas she invents. A classically trained singer, Hughes prefers characters and costumes, often donning bug-eyed sunglasses while performing songs that relish or wallow in being the outsider. On 2018's Super Sunset, she vivisected life in image-obsessed L.A.

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Rating: NNN Allie X has too many ideas. After making some noise in Toronto under her real name Allie Hughes, she moved to Los Angeles in 2013 and reinvented herself as an arty, fashion-friendly glam-pop star. She put out CollXtion I & II and Super Sunset - all more cohesive in theme and sound than the roller coaster of Cape God. There are some captivating songs on this album, which Allie recorded in Sweden with producer Oscar Görres.

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