Five Seconds Flat Album Review: Five seconds is all you will need to get hooked onto Lizzy McAlpine

Five seconds flat is a 14-track album encapsulating the feeling of heartbreak but also acceptance in love. Each song feels like you are deep diving into Lizzy McAlpine’s diary. Her song writing always comes from the heart and that has not stopped here. Although done quite metaphorically, the authenticity is similar to calling a best friend and telling them all about this horrible ex. The moment is so upsetting but you feel there is a glimmer of hope and everything is okay for a second.

To start this storyline off, the track list starts with Doomsday which is about a relationship that is inevitably doomed and losing that control. ‘I’d like to start planning my funeral, I’ve got work to do’. Her soft, calming vocals are often complimented with a build up of intense instrumental, to represent the pain felt. ‘Sharp knife’, a lyric in an ego thing does exactly this and showcases that feeling of getting ‘stabbed’. However, Lizzy keeps to her acoustic roots through songs like nobody likes a secret due to it being so stripped back, similar to her first album.

Keeping it personal, Lizzy a few spoken word elements to the songs to make it seem like you are listening to home videos. Most prominently, chemtrails which is about her late father. ‘Here is Elizabeth eating a big snack after being in the shower for fifteen minutes’ is spoken by her father and the listener can relate that grief of someone being present to their own life. The last track on the album, orange show speedway, also does this. Lizzy seems to be with friends and fireworks go off. Leaving an upbeat tone to finish, with the title mentioned.

So much is to say about this album but it definitely can be listened when the sun is setting, when you are heartbroken or when you want to scream in the car. To accompany this concept, she has a short film representing the narrative visually. This adds so much to each song that it could almost be a film. Could already be album of the year.

https://open.spotify.com/album/7vh3nkUP7HlDQIeSm7Ht6N?si=lGRIkKHkQ2WKa6Mo4qPeIg