Album reviews: Lana Del Rey, Chris Cornell, The Dead Weather and Keith Richards
Honeymoon
Polydor
"Come to California/ Be a freak like me, too" sings smoky pop siren Lana Del Rey on the track Freak, one of the many highlights of her third album, Honeymoon. It's easy to forget that it's only been a mere four years since Elizabeth Woolridge Grant burst onto the pop scene with the sultry hit single Video Games, and a stage name evoking 1950s Hollywood. Following closely on the heels of her rockier 2014 album Ultraviolence, Honeymoon is a stripped-down and dark affair, Del Rey evoking such striking noirish images it's almost impossible not to call the songs cinematic. It may be one of the most highly anticipated pop albums of the year, but this is a long, long way away from your Swifts and Gagas. Exploring "the golden age of jazz", Del Rey's breathless voice is the star of the show. Full of despair, it drifts and swoops beautifully over gorgeous melancholy orchestration, bold enough to quote David Bowie on the fabulous Terrence Loves You, and do more than justice to a cover of Nina Simone's Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.