Album Review: Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression
By Daniel Marco, Blogs Editor
[Loma Vista; 2016]
Rating: 4.5/10
Key Tracks: “American Valhalla,” “Sunday,” “Break Into Your Heart”
Even at the ripe age of 68, Iggy Pop is still trying to light the world on fire. Long removed from his days as the frontman for the iconic band The Stooges, Iggy has now released a total of 17 solo albums with Post Pop Depression, a cross between the punk music of his youth and the ragged poetry of Leonard Cohen.
The album kicks off with “Break into Your Heart,” a song that sounds like it could’ve been recorded by Tom Petty thirty years ago. It’s a pretty standard rock number until the end, when the beat cuts out and Iggy snarls, “I’m gonna crawl under your skin” grimly into the microphone.
The other highlights are “American Valhalla,” a mortality-obsessed song where Iggy hopelessly growls, “I’ve nothing but my name,” and “Sunday,” an up-tempo, guitar track-laden number that slowly descends into an orchestra piece fit for a ball.
The biggest problem with Post Pop Depression is that it lacks the raw aggression and power present in Iggy’s previous music. While you can certainly see traces trying to break through, they never fully materialize into something interesting.
Iggy attempts to recreate the magic of his youth with the sharp yelps and gnarly ramblings that made him famous forty years ago, which instead come off as dull and fail to hold the attention of the listener, resulting in an average album at best. Once Iggy truly gets pissed off again, then maybe we can have an album to look forward to.
