Any Human Friend - CD

"hand solo," "blow," "conventional ride"-these are just a few of the cheeky offerings off Any Human Friend, the new album from rock provocateur Marika Hackman. "This whole record is me diving into myself and peeling back the skin further and further, exposing myself in quite a big way. It can be quite sexual," Hackman says. "It's blunt, but not offensive. It's mischievous." There's also depth to her carnal knowledge: Any Human Friend is ultimately about how, as she puts it, "We all have this lightness and darkness in us." Hackman lifted the album's title from a documentary about four-year-olds interacting with dementia patients in senior homes. At one point, two little girls confer about their experience there, with one musing on how it's great to make "any human friend," whether old or young. "When she said that it really touched a nerve in me," says the London-based musician. "It's that childlike view where we really accept people, are comfortable with their differences." Such introspection has earned Hackman her name. Her folky 2015 debut, We Slept at Last, was heralded for being nuanced and atmospheric. She really found her footing with her last release, I'm Not Your Man-which earned raves from The Guardian, Stereogum, and Pitchfork-and it's sybaritic, swaggering hit "Boyfriend," which boasts of seducing away a straight guy's girlfriend. "Her tactile lyrics keep the songs melodically strong and full of surprises," remarked Pitchfork. "I'm a hopeless romantic," she explains. "I search for love and sexual experience, but also I'm terrified by it." Hackman is a Rid of Me-era PJ Harvey for the inclusive generation: unbounded by musical genre, a preternatural lyricist and tunesmith who isn't afraid to go there. (Even her cover art, which finds Hackman nearly nude while cradling a baby pig, is a nod to Dutch photographer Rineke Dijkstra's unfiltered photos of mothers just after they gave birth.) To that end, "hand solo" extorts the virtues of masturbation and features Hackman's favorite line, "Under patriarchal law, I'm going to die a virgin." The song "blow" paints a picture of social excess.