Chemtrails Over the Country Club

There’s a track on Chemtrails Over the Country Club—Lana Del Rey’s sixth full-length album and the follow-up to 2019’s Norman F*****g Rockwell!—that should have been heard earlier. “Yosemite” was originally written for 2017’s Lust for Life, but, in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that year, Del Rey revealed the song was “too happy” to make the cut. Its appearance is a neat summation of where you can expect to find the singer here. Total serenity might not have been achieved just yet, but across these 11 tracks, Del Rey, along with returning producer Jack Antonoff, finds something close to peace of mind, reflected in a softer, more intimate and pared-back sound. “Wild at Heart”, “Not All Who Wander Are Lost” and “Yosemite”, for example, all brim with (self-)acceptance. Returning to ”Yosemite” hints at something else, too: an artist looking back to make her next step forward. Chemtrails is scattered with references to its predecessors, from the “Venice Bitch”-reminiscent outro of the title track to “Not All Who Wander Are Lost”, which might be seen as a companion piece to 2012 single “Ride”. Then there are the tracks that could easily have appeared on previous albums (“Tulsa Jesus Freak” wouldn’t be out of place on 2014’s dark-edged Ultraviolence) and lyrics we’ve heard before (“Dance Till We Die”, for example, references “Off to the Races” from her debut album Born to Die, while “Yosemite” calls back to the “candle in the wind” of NFR!'s “Mariners Apartment Complex”). Del Rey’s MO has always been to tweak and refine—rather than reinvent—her sound, bringing her ever closer to where she wants to be. Chemtrails, however, is the first time she’s brought so much of her past into that process. As for where this album takes her? Somewhat unexpectedly towards country and folk inspired by the Midwest, rather than Del Rey’s beloved California; on “Tulsa Jesus Freak”, Del Rey pines after Arkansas. Chemtrails Over the Country Club makes no reference to the global pan