An album between nostalgia and provocation in which Morrissey continues to question the world with his usual disenchantment
With Make-Up Is a Lie, Morrissey positions himself in a territory he knows by heart: that of elegant melancholy, intellectual provocation and lyrics that oscillate between personal issues and social invective.
The song that gives the album its title, after six years of silence, summarizes the meaning of the project well: a reflection on the theme of the social mask, on make-up, real and metaphorical, covering the authenticity of individuals. Musically the piece moves on familiar coordinates, partly picking up the stylistic legacy of the Smiths.
Notre Damebetween pop and dark atmospheres, one of the most controversial songs on the album, alludes to the hypothesis that the fire in the famous Parisian cathedral was not an accident but that it was started by someone.
Among the best moments of the album the cover of Amazona by Roxy Music, a powerful and successful homage to the art-rock of the seventies. Ultimately, Make-Up Is a Lie it’s not a destined record that radically changes Morrissey’s artistic positioning. Instead, it is the album of a curious and tormented artist who has a personality and a stylistic signature that distinguishes him for better or for worse. Very nice Lester Bangs in which Morrissey pays homage to the legendary rock critic, symbol of passionate and unconventional music journalism. Kerching Kerching is decidedly less convincing.
It won’t be the record that redefines Morrissey’s career, but Make-Up Is a Lie confirms that few voices in British pop know how to transform disenchantment and nostalgia into such a recognizable form of melancholic elegance like hers.
