The hotly anticipated film adaption of Emily Brontë’s iconic romance novel, ‘Wuthering Heights’ released alongside its soundtrack by English chanteuse, Charli xcx. While the film, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, has received mixed reviews, the album has received glorious reception for its dazzling structure and rawness. Tailing the heels of the ‘brat’ phenomenon of summer 2024, Charli drifts off to a sonic landscape that’s centuries away from a nightclub or arena. Originally asked by ‘Saltburn’ director Emerald Fennell to come up with a song for the film, xcx insisted on an album instead. While entangled in Victorian style strings, wailing lyrics of unrequited love, and the immaculate production of Finn Keane (formerly known as EasyFun), this soundtrack album not only captures the forlorn romantic vibe of the novel and film, but also harkens back to xcx’s indie pop debut album, ‘True Romance’.
The ominous opening track and premier single ‘House’ features spoken word from the Velvet Underground’s founder, John Cale, before erupting into a raw and noisy cry for help to escape a house of their own devising. The next track ‘Wall of Sound’ has no kick or snare, but is carried solely on strings, vocals, and a bass synth capped by a swelling of strings climaxing in the fashion of ‘A Day in the Life’ by The Beatles. The following track ‘Dying for You’ contains spliced strings and electronic beats like those found in ‘brat’ or other albums of Charli, but still maintain the overarching theme of surrendering to love and its consequential pain.
‘Always Everywhere’ has one of the simplest yet purest messages of the film. Being helpless to an all-encompassing love. This sentiment is echoed in ‘Chains of Love’, as well. The short but sweet interlude-coded track ‘Open Up’ simply urges the listener to open one’s heart in Charli’s classic vulnerable form. ‘Seeing Things’ has the feeling of a fluttery contemporary indie pop track from the early to mid-aughts that’s almost reminiscent of Kate Bush’s 1978 track ‘Wuthering Heights’.
‘Altars’ offers a surrendered state of a lover, almost a direct contrast from the newlywed Charli. ‘Eyes of The World’ features her constant collaborator Sky Ferriera, begging for their feelings to be seen by all to free them of their inner turmoil. ‘My Reminder’ feels like it falls a bit flat. It’s a rather simplistic track like a stale version of brat’s ‘Apple’. Perhaps it’s due to the subdued surrender of facing one’s past, not even directly referencing a lover, but maybe even a family member. The capstone of the album, ‘Funny Mouth’, is a dream-like questioning of a lover. With swirling chords, emotional strings, electronic stabs, and key changes, Charli assesses the words of her lover.
This album poses itself not so much as an interpretation of the film, but more of Charli’s vibe. This album hallmarks her growth, security, songwriting, and topical range. It’s quite the feat to pivot from singing about partying to tender matters of the heart. This truly a wild piece of artwork rather than music to simply consume, this needs to be experienced. 9/10
