Cate le Bon - Michelangelo Dying (2025) (Hi-Res)

Cate Le Bon is a renowned producer, the force behind recent albums by Wilco, St. Vincent, and Kurt Vile, among others. She has admitted to being possessive of her solo work in the past, but she has started to welcome input from a few trusted friends. Michelangelo Dying relies on a four-piece band of close collaborators to craft lush orchestral pop songs, which are then run by Le Bon and her co-producer Samur Khouja through a spin cycle of '70s and '80s synths that leaves them covered in a diamond sheen. Look inside, though, and you'll find a record tormented by the specter of a great love lost.

Le Bon's path through heartbreak isn't an elegant arc; it's a slurry of grief's classic stages: anger here, denial there, depression all over. Opener "Jerome" seems like a pure lament, a close listen reveals our hero pivot from bargaining ("Gently read my name/ Cry/ And find me here") to self-hatred ("I'm eating rocks/ And so it goes") to spite ("Play it right/ Give me nothing to rely on") to insatiable longing ("Jerome, Jerome/ Your hunger makes the night fall"). "Body as a River" begins with a series of self-affirmations: "It's so good for me … Time of my life … Send my love to the roses/ In the prime of my life." One might assume that the track's title refers to some sort of zen enlightenment, but the water is a whirlpool, and Le Bon ends up back at rock bottom: "My body as a river/ A river running dry/ And I'm sick all the time."

By penultimate track "Ride," she's showing signs of acceptance, her numbness slowly morphing into a genuine calm. "It's alright … It's just feelings going away," she sings at the end of verse one. "It's a ride," she repeats in the chorus, echoed by John Cale's iconic baritone. Hearing her float in and out of sync with an artist who's clearly inspired much of her work is a uniquely poignant experience.

Le Bon backslides on closer "I Know What's Nice"—"I'd live on his lips … I get caught in his smile"—but as Michelangelo Dying winds down, she fights her worst impulses with steely resolve. "I can't break down," she sings seven times, bracing herself for the road ahead. © Raphael Helfand

Tracklist
1. Jerome (4:06)
2. Love Unrehearsed (4:14)
3. Mothers of Riches (4:34)
4. Is It Worth It (Happy Birthday)? (5:47)
5. Pieces of My Heart (3:39)
6. About Time (3:30)
7. Heaven Is No Feeling (3:49)
8. Body as a River (4:30)
9. Ride (feat. John Cale) (3:53)
10. I Know What's Nice (5:21)