Declan McKenna’s third album, “What Happened To The Beach,” marks a departure from his previous politically charged lyrics. The singer has traded in weighty topics for a magical adventure of sonic experimentation and lyrical playfulness. The album reflects McKenna’s rediscovery of making music just for fun, and the pivot away from political issues came after the “voice of a generation” tag that had started to follow him around. The singer recorded the album during the first wave of the Covid pandemic, starting in his sister’s bedroom, which he turned into a studio.
The mostly satirical album tackles escapism anchored by thoughtful exploration of why we feel the need to escape in the first place. The album was completed in California, with the singer hooking up with producer Gianluca Buccellati, best known for his work on Lana Del Rey’s Lust For Life and Arlo Parks’ Mercury Prize-winning Collapsed In Sunbeams. With Californian sunshine and blue skies present throughout the record, the escapism is anchored by a more thoughtful exploration.
McKenna won Glastonbury’s Emerging Talent competition in 2015, leading to his breakthrough single “Brazil,” which tackled corruption in Fifa. Later songs addressed issues like transgender suicide and religious hypocrisy, while his second album “Zeros” imagined escaping the Earth after a catastrophic climate event. However, “What Happened To The Beach” marks a shedding of the skin, with the singer forging a path he feels comfortable and confident in his choices.
The album received positive reviews, with “The Guardian’s” Ben Beaumont-Thomas describing individual songs as having “melodies as pleasurable as a sugar cube on the tongue.” “Clash” magazine’s Matthew Mclister also praised the album, noting it to be a “wonderfully composed record that sounds radically different to what he’s produced before.” Meanwhile, Laura Molloy of “NME” noted that despite its West coast notions, “it’s still an album heavily imbued with British
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