TheyвЂ™re devoid of the fluttering vocals and lilting narrative turns found earlier.

These darker songs are the most musically impenetrable, with fragmented verses and jumped cadences. On вЂњText Book,вЂќ she portrays courtship as a вЂњdanceвЂќ - a kind of surface-level deception that she mimics by deadpanning, вЂњDo you think if I go blonde, we could get our old love back?вЂќ She gets more serious on вЂњViolets For Roses,вЂќ a song about letting a new boyfriend strip away your identity.

The tone of the album becomes grows more strained as Del Rey sings about the lonelier aspects of her life as a modern woman: the empty parties (вЂњThunderвЂќ), sycophants (вЂњBlack Bathing SuitвЂќ), and the eternal hassle of finding a mate (вЂњSuitвЂќ). вЂњEvery time it turns to May/All my sisters fly to me, to paint, paint,вЂќ she sings. It feels as though there is some primitive magic to this domestic scene and in their sisterly bond. When she describes the scene at large - вЂњChuckyвЂ™s makinвЂ™ birthday cake/Chickens runnin,вЂ™ bare feet, thereвЂ™s a baby on the wayвЂќ - the thrum of activity, of life in the house, is palpable and timeless. They paint her banisters a different color, which is a metaphor for rebirth. These friends help her through heartache caused by a man who, вЂњsaid heвЂ™d fix my weathervane, give me children, take away my pain, and paint my banisters blue.вЂќ They reign in her lovesickness. The title track is a quaint sketch of a group of women together in the same house - Jenny, Nicki, Chucky - thatвЂ™s like if Jane Austen had written Sense and Sensibility about life in a luxury condo in Los Feliz. Luckily, Del Rey isnвЂ™t making this journey alone. ItвЂ™s as if turning inward is the only kind of escapism she can trust. вЂњAll roads that lead to you as integral to me as arteries,вЂќ she sings dreamily, comparing her adopted home of California to her own body. The catchiest song on the album is вЂњArcadia,вЂќ about a mythical city that exists in the same primitive space as the soul. Blue Banisters is more abstract, harder to process, and much more introspective. But upon listening to the album - a diffuse collection of prose poems set to, largely, piano accompaniment - itвЂ™s clear she only handed us binoculars after smudging the lenses with vaseline.Д®arlier this year, Del Rey released Chemtrails Over The Country Club, a buoyant and melodic album with lyrics that felt inspired by the old Kerouac notion of the American road trip as spiritual cleanse. But she's unable to consistently sell herself as a heartbreaker, and most of the songs here sound like cobbled retreads of 'Video Games.' An intriguing start, but Del Rey is going to have to hit the books if she wants to stay as successful as her career promised early on.The last thing Lana Del Rey wanted us to know before retiring her Instagram account several weeks ago was that Blue Banisters, her seventh major-label studio album, tells her story вЂњand does pretty much nothing more.вЂќВ The note provides an unusual amount of clarity for Del Rey, whose typical album rollouts practically require a degree in cryptography.

Del Rey doesn't mind taking chances, varying her vocalizing and delivery, toying with her lines and reaching for cinematic flourishes ('he loves me with every beat of his cocaine heart,' 'Pabst Blue Ribbon on ice'), and even attempting to rap. There is a chasm that separates 'Video Games' from the other material and performances on the album, which aims for exactly the same target - sultry, sexy, wasted - but with none of the same lyrical grace, emotional power, or sympathetic productions. Unfortunately, the only problem with Born to Die is a big one. Her vacant, tired reading of the song rescues it from any hint of exploitation, making it a winner. 'Video Games' is a beautiful song, calling to mind Fiona Apple and Anna Calvi as she recounts another variation on the age-old trope of female-as-sex-object. Although it's easy to see the reasons why Del Rey got her contract, it's also easy to hear: her songwriting skills and her bewitching voice. The hype began in mid-2011 with a stunning song and video for 'Video Games,' and it kept on rising, right up to her January 2012 performance on Saturday Night Live (making her the first artist since Natalie Imbruglia in 1998 to perform on SNL without an album available). Not coincidentally, she didn't lack for attention leading up to the release of her Interscope debut, Born to Die. Lana Del Rey is a femme fatale with a smoky voice, a languorous image, and a modeling contract.

Lana del rey album deluxe