Faye Webster's fifth album Underdressed at the Symphony is ultimately underwhelming. Not only do many of the songs sound incomplete or just repeat similar ideas, Underdressed simply touches on the "symphony" theme rather than fully going all in.
Faye Webster, Atlanta based singer and songwriter, has been climbing up the indie pop ladder since the early 2010's with records like Faye Webster, Atlanta Millionaires Club, and the brilliant I Know I'm Funny haha. Her records have become more and more charming, cute, lovable, and endearing with her quirky personality of self deprecating humor full of both heartbreak and lovesickness. Her latest album, Underdressed at the Symphony, comes three years after her previous. Knowing that her fourth album was not only one of the best records from 2021 but also her career best thus far makes her new fifth studio album a highly anticipated one.
Following up her EP Car Therapy Sessions, Underdressed seems to be a continuation of that stylistically and thematically while also continuing her instrumentation from I Know I'm Funny haha. Featuring a full on orchestra on some tracks, such as the album's closer "Tttttime" or "But Not Kiss," it's quite stunning and beautiful to hear these intimate indie pop songs in a huge, cinematic way that can be larger than life. They are by far my favorite musical moments on the album. Listening to the singles, I wasn't too excited or say, I wasn't as excited as I usually would be for a Faye Webster project. I just simply felt like much of these songs weren't as exciting or punchy or captivating like her previous stuff. That's disappointing to write. It truly is considering how much of a fan I've been of previous records, which mostly felt more complete despite some hiccups along the way within some deep cuts. Not only do many of the songs sound incomplete or just repeat similar ideas, Underdressed simply touches on the "symphony" theme rather than fully going all in like she did on the Car Therapy EP. As short as that EP was as four tracks, I thought she did a much more marvelous job at incorporating that sound and style. There are just a handful of moments on Underdressed where you'll here symphonic strings, flutes, and percussion slide in and out of your headphones. It's more of a guest appearance than the full ensemble.
That's not to say that Underdressed is an awful experience. Underdressed is unfortunately underwhelming, yes, simply because she's honestly set the bar super high. It's still enjoyable, full of her personality, rich and pretty in instrumentation. It just doesn't reach that high mark that records like I Know I'm Funny haha did. I appreciate that Faye is still Faye on this record through and through. She brings out much emotion. The opener "Thinking About You" is gorgeous in performance and presentation even though it doesn't exactly deserve its six and a half minute long runtime. She even tries different things on this record too which I appreciate more on paper than in execution. She's dabbled a tiny bit in autotune and psychedelic rock and R&B in the past and she fully embodies it on a couple tracks here. "Lego Ring" features psych rapper and crooner Lil Yachty and it's short, sweet, but kind of awkward in execution where Webster and Yachty don't sound too amazing harmonizing together. "Feeling Good Today" doesn't even reach the one and a half minute mark and is just a simple, cute guitar ballad sung completely in autotune. It's more interesting and intriguing in practice than in execution and really should've been left on the cutting room floor.
There are also pretty ballads that have a bossa nova and latin flare too them, similar to that of previous ballads from her last album. "Wanna Quit All the Time" and "eBay Purchase History" are very pretty to hear and I do enjoy them despite these ideas being already executed before. Songs like "He Loves Me Yeah!" and "But Not Kiss" are solid ideas of songs, they just continue to repeat phrases and lines until they end. It can get tiresome to hear these repeated lines without any changeups. "Tttttime" finishes the album in similar balladry fashion to the other ones but with an annoying refrain of repeating "t-t-t-t-t-time" in its chorus and I just can't. I just can't. I do like the psychedelic guitar on the album's title track and there's a solid sense of progression in the track that I love. And it's one of the few tracks that seem to embody exactly what she's trying to accomplish with this overall sound. So yeah, I was pretty underwhelmed by this album. I expected more. Much more! Underdressed has plenty of good ideas and is by no means a bad record. It's just not fully fleshed out enough to be a great album. It acts more like a B-sides collection or outtakes from her previous album or simply a half baked album experience that needed more. Also just over thirty five minutes in length, it's way too short. The songs simply aren't strong enough to garner the attention that I've given much of her previous material.
My Rating: 6 / 10
Favorite Songs: "Thinking About You," "Lifetime," "Underdressed at the Symphony"
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