Cape God (2020)

Cape God is the second studio album by Canadian singer Allie X. It was released on February 21, 2020 by Twin Music and distributed by AWAL. The release followed her extended play Super Sunset (2018). The album was primarily written by Allie X and James Alan Ghaleb, and produced by Oscar Görres. It received generally positive reviews from music critics.

Background and development

Allie X released her extended play Super Sunset in 2018. Cape God was originally intended as a sister record to the EP, though Allie X later decided to split the project into a separate album. She contrasted her approach to writing Cape God with what she had taken for her previous releases. While she stated that her previous releases involved experimentation with "alter egos", Cape God was "a pretty personal, pretty intimate body of work". In an ask-me-anything session on Reddit, Allie X noted that "it was easier [for her] to make this record than any other" and that "[the process] happened very seamlessly."

Allie X drew inspiration for the album from the characters within Heroin: Cape Cod, USA, a 2015 documentary about the opioid epidemic in Massachusetts. She wrote songs from the point of view of one of the documentary's characters, and developed a fictionalized Cape Cod in her mind as a way to reflect on her personal experiences. She met producer Oscar Görres and songwriter James Alan Ghaleb in Stockholm, shortly after writing the opening line for the album's first track "Fresh Laundry". She described her songwriting process as "seamless, therapeutic, and very enjoyable," though she also credited Görres's production for being able to complement her "layered kind of complex lyrics". Cape God was Allie X's first album to feature vocal duets. She began work with feature artists Troye Sivan and Mitski in 2018.

The standard edition album cover photograph was shot in a cave in upstate New York by Brendon Burton, using natural light and a smoke bomb.

Songs

The album opens with "Fresh Laundry", described by Sarah Shodipe from The Line Of Best Fit as lo-fi, while Stuart Derdeyn of Vancouver Sun wrote that the song had a "big booming beat, spooky vocal and splashy keyboard hook". Allie X described "Devil I Know" as about dealing with a toxic relationship; reviews described the song as catchy and as combining melodies with moodiness, and noted a strong resemblance to the Arctic Monkeys song "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?". "Rings a Bell" is a neo-psychedelic pop song about "falling into a rabbit hole, experiencing something surreal, in a dream, or in your subconscious perhaps".

"Love Me Wrong" is a ballad featuring Australian singer Troye Sivan. Allie X gained inspiration for the song from the 2018 coming-of-age film Boy Erased, in which Sivan played a supporting role. She noted the similarities between the film's main character and her writing process for the album. She expressed that song "deals with the confusion and hurt associated with familial love," when loved ones do not see and love your true identity. Reviews widely described "Super Duper Party People" as the album's standout track, while noting its corny title. musicOMH described it as "a bass-led anthem" with lyrics about people at "a particularly seedy nightclub", DIY said the track "perfectly displays [Allie X]'s ability to create a refreshing take on what could otherwise be by-numbers pop", while Exclaim! said the track was "hallucinogenic" with references to drugs and sex. "Susie Save Your Love", a collaboration with indie rock artist Mitski, is a pop song with drums, bass and synths and included "depressing" lyrics about a woman named Susie stuck in an unwanted relationship. Paste described Allie X and Mitski's vocals as "almost too perfect of a match", but that it was a "solid track" for dancing alone. musicOMH noted that the song "sounds unaccountably sad yet impossible not to dance to".

Release and promotion

The album was preceded by the release of five singles. The lead single, "Fresh Laundry" was released on September 27, 2019. This was followed by "Rings a Bell" on October 18, 2019, "Regulars" on November 8, 2019, and "Love Me Wrong", a collaboration with Troye Sivan, on December 6, 2019. "Devil I Know" was released as the last single for the album before its release on January 31, 2020.

On September 29, 2021 Allie X announced a deluxe edition of the album, featuring five new songs and new artwork. It was released on vinyl on November 19, 2021 and digitally on November 25, 2021. "Anchor" was released as a single on the same day as the vinyl release.

Critical reception

On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 78 based on eight reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".