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3.       THE JUNKYARD 2 by Penelope Scott

Penelope Scott launched three albums this year, the last two dramatically different apart from sharing a song in American Healthcare, which was “glitzied” for Public Void, the pop-ish, or at least poppier work. But the most outstanding one was definitely The Junkyard 2, the sequel to Bandcamp’s Junkyard.

Junkyard 2 is what a Sidney Gish record would sound like if she were a theatre kid on crack (not that Penelope Scott is on crack). In my book, that’s all you can ask for. Its lyrics are just as hilarious as Gish’s, though perhaps a rating above – there is only one song in this album, Lavender, that isn’t explicit. Still, she manages to make her music sound “Broadway unplugged”, if there is such a thing: were she to burst into song spontaneously, I would in no way question her – her lyrics are relatable enough. Scott might, in fact, have the best lyrics of the year – maybe it’s just quarantine brain talking, but the chorus to Baxter is Under Fucking Siege, And there’s no shame in sleeping later/ No shame at all in sleeping more/ There’s no shame in being such a filthy frigid Lysol-huffing whore, does hit you hard, even if you have never sniffed Lysol in your life.

Montreal is the type of cheery, seasonal depression in the summer hymn that somehow makes you feel better by downright declaring there are no stakes involved in anything you do. In a strange way, it is the less emo, grown up cousin of 21 guns. Maybe it is the mentally ill emo enthusiast in me, but there are few 2020 lyrics more resonant than “And I would rather die/ And let me make it clear/ It’s nobody’s fault/ But I think we all know/ That I won’t make it to Montreal”. Perhaps the ones in the beginning of Hammerhead: “All I really know is that I’m never coming home/ And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you so”.

Honestly, if this were purely a lyrics contest, this would be the clear winner: And I’m not your protagonist/ I’m not even my own/ I don’t know anything/ I don’t even know what I don’t know? What a mood. I can’t even give a fuck in my dreams? Girl, same.

It is sort of disappointing to see how much better Scott’s more heavily produced stuff is doing in streaming services, since I hope this won’t discourage her from putting out more content like that in Junkyard 2. Like I said, this album has the paradoxical effect of pushing you forward by admitting defeat. Like she says, And I could turn it all to ashes/ For the fleeting joy I’d get/ From adding more smoke to the sky.

Also, there are just some great political songs which do not feel forced as they are quite personal. The hilarious Mommy Fwiend proclaims, in Broadway showtune antics, that consent is not just about “your cock and the government”, and that she would be much less offended if told to go back in the kitchen. Then there’s American Healthcare, which should have been Bernie Sanders’ campaign song: I wanted to help people/ I thought I could save the sick… It was the government/ The companies, bureaucracy/ The lobbyists, the congressmen, and lies. And the one percent. Never forget the one percent. In addition, when Scott sings Well people die every day/ I wouldn’t have it any other way, it’s way too funny.

Best Song: Both Montreal and Hammerhead are so extremely relatable to me I cannot choose between them – and that in itself is interesting since they depict similar, yet polarly opposed destructive tendencies.

Skip: Though Phones is by far the best instrumental / epilogue attempt from a vocal album this year (there have been quite a few), you could do without it.

Best Lyrics: This might be the most difficult call I have ever had to make. I guess “You’ll never hear from me again / Safe for an envelope I’ll send / Containing fifty billion dollars and some photographs of dogs”. From Hammerhead. Now do you get it when I say she is Sidney Gish rated R? Here’s another one that could’ve come right out of Impostor Syndrome: “I couldn’t pass the Turing test if I had the answer sheet”. Surely, what comes next is a little darker, but I’m not opposed to it.

But that’s just where I am in life.

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