(Photo Manipulation by Alex Gerson)
I sit writing this review in a tenth-floor hotel room in Greenwich Village, New York City. According to a recent instagram story, singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers, who has lived in the city since she attended New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, is just a few blocks away moving into a brand new apartment. Apparently today — Friday, April 12 — is a big day for Rogers: She also released her third studio album, “Don’t Forget Me,” at midnight.
The record is a collection of timeless, easy-listening pop-rock bangers and ballads that will ensure that Rogers will not be forgotten any time soon by critics, casual listeners or devoted fans. Even my mother and grandmother, who haven’t listened to Maggie Rogers until now, blissfully enjoyed the album as I played it out loud as they got ready for a Hop-on Hop-off bus tour in Manhattan.
Let the record show, for New York residents like Maggie Rogers herself and several of my friends, that I abstained from the tour. But if I were there, I would make sure they stopped by Electric Lady Studios, the iconic studio where Rogers recorded “Don’t Forget Me” across five days in December 2022 and January 2023.
Ironically, I find little evidence of the album’s New York production location. The easy-breezy sound has more of a west coast vibe, evoking comparisons to the likes of Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks and Carole King. But you can feel — and hear — the presence of the studio throughout the album. The sonic landscape has an acoustic feel to it, making it easy for all listeners to discern that Maggie Rogers and co-producer Ian Fitchuk are using live instruments in the studio.
At the end of “Drunk,” the second track on the album, an extra drum beat is the period tacked onto the end of an incredible sentence. “Drunk” is an instant standout and perhaps the most grungy, New-Yorkian track on the album. The rhythmic guitar riff vaguely evokes the likes of the quintessential New York rock band the Strokes. Drums arrive at the pre-chorus, introducing a very grunge sound relative to the songs that follow. “I’m drunk, but not drinkin’ / Lost in wishful thinkin’,” Maggie Rogers croons.
Maggie Rogers goes on to explore sounds from a variety of genres while maintaining sonic and thematic cohesion. “So Sick of Dreaming” and “On & On & On” wield bass lines similar to those found in psychedelic rock tunes from the late ’60s. “I Still Do” and “All the Same” are bursting with Joni Mitchell’s influence, as they simultaneously hug and crush the hearts of listeners with stripped-back piano, plucked acoustic guitar and impressive vibrato.
Enough of me discussing Maggie Rogers’ influences, whether they be places, people, or genres: A great body of work must have a voice of its own, and “Don’t Forget Me” has it. The songs are lyrically interesting enough to sustain multiple listens and easy enough to understand but always leave something new to discover upon each listen. While Rogers is not necessarily breaking new sonic or lyrical ground, she is the best at what she does in the time she is doing it.
The album ends with the title track, which she released as a single back in Feb., where Rogers expresses a relatable love-related frustration by singing, “My friend Sally’s getting married / And to me that sounds so scary / I’m still tryin’ to clean up my side of the street.” But when Rogers pleads “Don’t forget me” she speaks to more than a potential lover. She seems to be pleading to the world at large. And, trust me, the incredible soft-rock track hits just as hard blasting in a car driving down Eagle Row as it does walking down the pedestrian-filled streets of Manhattan.
As I wrap up this review, my mom and grandma are well on their way to the Empire State Building or some other tourist trap, and I am getting ready to go out for a walk out on the streets of the Village. I will surely see hundreds of well-dressed twenty-somethings floating in their own worlds and listening to their own accompanying soundtracks. I wonder how many of them are blasting “Don’t Forget Me” in their headphones. While I wonder how many of them will decide to delve deeper into her heartfelt lyrics, I won’t mind if they, like my mom and grandma, find it comforting and sonically interesting background music.
