Lana Del Rey had a tough act to follow after the orgasmic reception to Norman Fucking Rockwell and she responded to the challenge by delivering her quietest and most personal record yet. 2021’s Chemtrails Over the Country Club strips away any hints of modern pop present in its predecessor and doubles down on the atmospheric folk.

Some fans decried the continued move away from the trip-hop trappings of her early work, somehow unsatisfied with the bounty of beautiful songs Del Rey was delivering. I’ll take gorgeous acoustic melancholy any day over just about anything else, so this album is right in my sweet spot.

Chemtrails finds Del Rey in a much more peaceful and contemplative place than the glamorous femme fatale of her earlier work. She sings about love, family, and friendship, as well as her increasing disillusionment with the music industry.

As the album’s cover art suggests, she finds solace in her friends, and invites several of them to collaborate on the album. Country singer Nikki Lane co-writes and performs on one track, and the album’s closer is a lovely cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘For Free’ on which Del Rey shares verses with singers Zella Day and Weyes Blood.

This Laurel Canyon lovefest feels like it’s been beamed in from another plane of existence. Del Rey basks in the iconography of 50s Americana and the music of 70s California, and filters all that through her modern mindset to arrive at something deliriously out of time.

With each new release, I’m more convinced that she is not only one of my favorite artists ever but a once-in-a-generation talent whose cultural significance won’t be fully realized any time soon.