Ticket 2 Ride

Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas make huge strides with each new release. The maturity in their writing, Finneas’s production and Billie’s vocal expression move the bar higher for their work.

In two months since its release, the album has passed the two billion mark on Spotify. That sounds like a lot. Of course the album has topped charts around the world, it’s what her albums do.

1 SKINNY
2 LUNCH
3 CHIHIRO
4 BIRDS OF A FEATHER
5 WILDFLOWER
6 THE GREATEST
7 L’AMOUR DE MA VIE
8 THE DINER
9 BITTERSUITE
10 BLUE

Yes, this album is best listened to from start to finish. It’s a forty-plus minute journey of moans, beats, grooves, soaring vocals and seismic emotions.

I’m not a big purveyor of hip, new music by kids young enough to be my grandkids. There are exceptions, when the music has that universal embrace and quality.

David Campbell provides the string arrangements, which are used sparingly, but quite effectively. Campbell has been embellishing recordings since the early 1970s, scoring films and playing on more than 450 gold records. Campbell is also the father of singer/songwriter Beck.

Aside from acoustic drums and the string quartet, Billie and Finneas contributed all of the instruments.

What I enjoy most about this album is how different the songs from each other, but fit together so well. The music is constructed from riffs and machine growls, manipulated into neat rhythms and soundscapes that tickle your ears and stay in your head.