TSHA
's first album, the exceptional
Capricorn Sun
, was filled with surging, festival-ready dance tracks that expressed complex emotions, from urgent desires to heartache and desperation in the face of a rocky relationship.
Sad Girl
, the artist's second full-length, further taps into feelings of isolation and depression, while producing some of her most extroverted, escapist material yet.
Dan Whitlam
's opening monologue about a girl stuck in her room, accepting her loneliness, brashly contrasts with the vibrant, runway-ready house of "Girls," the
Rose Gray
-featuring second track. "In the Night" is a yearning, propulsive Euro-dance tune about wanting to be young, high, and free forever. Other tracks heavily channel '90s vibes -- "Green" is filled with retro horn stabs, while "In Bloom" (with
Abi Flynn
) updates downtempo R&B with 21st century chirpy vocal effects. The album's eclecticism further encompasses smooth drum'n'bass ("Can't Dance," which juxtaposes acoustic guitars and panpipes with snarky lyrics by
Master Peace
), the lush house anthem "Sweet Devotion" (featuring
Caroline Byrne
), and the slow-burning ballad "Azaleas," which begins with
Ingrid Witt
's forlorn vocals over swelling strings before being swept away by a pounding beat. The record's clear standout is "Drive," another song with
Witt
, which has even more dramatic strings along with rave pianos and shuffling breakbeats. Somewhat surprisingly, "Fight" opens with a melody played on a stringed instrument like a dulcimer, before the track switches to an aggressive,
Underworld
-inspired banger, with the sound of police sirens ramping up the tension.
is the work of an artist using music to navigate through intense changes and conflicting emotions, and its best moments feel like a breakthrough. ~ Paul Simpson