Anna von Hausswolff ICONOCLASTS

Critic's Take

In his crisp, observant tone Alexis Petridis presents Anna von Hausswolff's ICONOCLASTS as a strange, expansive pop pivot that still smells of gothic grandeur, and he names a few clear high points. He singles out the radio-ready ballad Aging Young Women, the affecting Iggy Pop duet The Whole Woman, and the nine-minute, skronky funk of Struggle With the Beast as the album's most immediate triumphs.

Key Points

• The best song is the propulsive, sax-fuelled "Struggle With the Beast" because its nine-minute skronky funk powers the album's maximalism.
• ICONOCLASTS' core strengths are its relentless sense of motion, rich melodies that avoid conventional structures, and cathartic bursts of noise.

Themes

Critic's Take

The record flips her previous ritualistic gloom into an ambient-adjacent, jazzy art-rock palette while keeping the haunting core intact. The best tracks on ICONOCLASTS are those that marry her old unease with new, gleeful production - grand, anxious builds and saxophone flourishes that make these songs stand out.

Key Points

• The best song is An Ocean of Time because it most closely channels Anna's earlier dark ambient mastery and evokes claustrophobic dread.
• The album's core strengths are its successful fusion of dark ambient roots with jazz and saxophone flourishes, and strong collaborator chemistry.

Themes

Critic's Take

Anna von Hausswolff fashions ICONOCLASTS as a searching, often overwhelming statement, where sprawling pieces like The Iconoclast and the brooding The Beast stake out the album's best-song moments. The record refuses easy categorization, folding Baroque maximalism into doom, folk, and industrial textures so that the best tracks on ICONOCLASTS feel both ritualistic and vividly modern. Vocal turns and arrangements give songs such as The Iconoclast palpable theatricality, making them the album's standout material. Overall, these are the best tracks on ICONOCLASTS because they crystallize von Hausswolff's ambition and sonic density into unforgettable, serviceably terrifying set pieces.

Key Points

• The best song(s) condense von Hausswolff's Baroque maximalism and doomy theatricality into memorable, ritualistic set pieces.
• The album's core strengths are its fusion of genres, dense arrangements, and uncompromising, gothic atmosphere.

Themes

Critic's Take

In measured, exalted tones the reviewer frames Anna von Hausswolff’s ICONOCLASTS as a bold reinvention, and the best tracks emerge naturally from that shift. The review insists that “Facing Atlas” charges "right through the unknown" with post-rock soars, and that makes it one of the best tracks on ICONOCLASTS. Likewise, “The Iconoclast” and “Stardust” are praised for spilling "airy saxophones, galloping percussions, gauzy synths, and bolting pipe organs," marking them as standout moments. The critic also flags the tender penultimate pairing of “An Ocean of Time” and “Unconditional Love” for their poignant reckoning with time and familial bonds.

Key Points

• “Facing Atlas” is the best track for its immediate, voracious charge and triumphant post-rock soars.
• The album’s strengths are bold reinvention, grand orchestration, and emotionally resonant collaborations that foreground hope and time.

Themes

Critic's Take

Jude Jones hears the bravest moments of ICONOCLASTS in its quieter, human turns rather than pure spectacle. The review singles out Aging Young Woman as a hymn-like, elegiac duet and praises the face-melting saxophone climax of nine-minute Struggle With The Beast as a centerpiece. Jones also highlights the dramatic intimacy of Facing Atlas and the folkish exchange of The Whole Woman, arguing that life and love now take novel precedence on the album. This is an artist who reins in gimmickry and lets her voice and organ serve earnest self-exploration.

Key Points

• The best song is the nine-minute 'Struggle With The Beast' for its face-melting saxophone climax and structural centrality.
• The album's core strength is marrying organ-led grandeur with intimate themes of loss, faith, and mature love.

Themes

Critic's Take

Anna von Hausswolff's ICONOCLASTS is less a pop pivot than a grand conversation between pipe organ and saxophone, and the best songs on ICONOCLASTS prove it. The record's centerpiece, Struggle With the Beast, is thunderous and nearly psychedelic, the kind of behemoth that will split your skull live. Likewise, tracks like The Iconoclast and The Whole Woman showcase her gift for sprawling, cinematic arrangements that build to ruptures and then bloom into saxophone or organ-driven catharsis. Read together they answer the question of whether she has gone pop - she has not; she has widened her palette and found deeper, louder expression.

Key Points

• “Struggle With the Beast” is the best song because of its relentless, thunderous nine-minute build and powerful vocal catharsis.
• The album’s core strength is the expanded instrumental palette and the organ-sax dialogue that turns funeral dirges into cinematic, rock-inflected catharsis.

Themes

Critic's Take

Anna von Hausswolff's ICONOCLASTS finds its best tracks in the way she pairs stark instrumentation with vocal intensity, especially on “The Beast” and “Stardust”. The reviewer's voice emphasizes a move from a dissonant, sax-led opening into cinematic, big-gesture songs, arguing that those shifts make the best songs on ICONOCLASTS feel both controlled and ecstatic. The muscular drums and round bass of “Stardust” are singled out as among the album's liveliest moments, while “The Beast” sets an unforgettable, ominous tone that recurs through the record. Overall, the best tracks are those that let von Hausswolff's operatic falsetto slice through maximalist arrangements, which is precisely what makes ICONOCLASTS compelling.

Key Points

• “Stardust” is the best song because its propulsive drums and bass let von Hausswolff’s voice cut through, making it the album’s liveliest moment.
• The album’s core strength is marrying baroque maximalism and orchestral arrangements with an operatic vocal at the center, creating richly textured contrasts.

Themes

Critic's Take

Anna von Hausswolff builds cathedral-scale emotion on ICONOCLASTS, and the best songs - notably The Whole Woman and The Beast - make that grandeur feel human. The record's maximalist organ and sky-high production let tracks like The Whole Woman read as triumphant requiems for dead relationships, while opening pieces such as The Beast lay out the album's thesis with gothic-jazz flourish. Elsewhere, songs like Stardust and Struggle With the Beast trade in gasping desperation and patient, lingering builds, which is precisely where von Hausswolff's voice finds its power. The result is an album that vibrates with the energy of the recently liberated even as it trembles with heartache.

Key Points

• The Whole Woman is the best song because its duet writing and lyricism crystallize the album's triumphant requiem theme.
• The album's core strengths are its monumental pipe-organ arrangements, dramatic vocals, and Otis Sandsjö's clarifying sax contributions.

Themes