album by Maro
Getting older has a way of making you take stock of your life. SO MUCH HAS CHANGED seems to sit in that time of transition where you start figuring out what matters, what doesn’t, and which people you want to surround yourself with.
Musically, it’s a gentle mix of acoustic indie and pop that occasionally brushes against R&B and electronic music. Acoustic guitar and piano provide the foundation for many of the songs, but drums, synths, bass and processed vocals continually change the texture.
There are moments that bring to mind the intimate, hushed approach of Billie Eilish and others with the rhythmic singer-songwriter pop of Ed Sheeran.
MARO has a beautiful voice, but she rarely pushes it to the front. She tends to sing softly, almost settling into the music rather than rising above it. Even when the arrangements become bigger, they don’t explode, giving the album a consistent, almost melancholy quality even when the lyrics themselves aren’t particularly sad.
“I Owe It to You” is built mostly around acoustic guitar and MARO’s low, restrained vocal. It starts out reflective before opening up toward the end into something closer to indie pop. What initially sounds almost mournful reveals itself as a song of gratitude.
The title track, “So Much Has Changed,” returns to acoustic guitar and that intimate vocal style while MARO sings about looking back at her younger self and seeing all the things she has learned since then.
“Kiss Me” sounds like a hit single. It’s more percussion-led, with faster acoustic guitar giving the song momentum without turning it into something bombastic. The whole thing captures that honeymoon-phase feeling.
“Feeling So Nice” has a more vibrant, rhythm-driven pop arrangement as distance from a former partner allows MARO to finally see the relationship for what it was.
“It Ain’t Over” is stuck in that grieving period when knowing a relationship needed to end doesn’t mean you’ve completely let go. The music moves into a more direct pop sound, with synths, drums and bass carrying the track and a muted R&B pulse underneath it.
“I Know You Know” strips things back again. Piano leads the song, with MARO singing so softly that her voice sometimes seems to sit underneath the music. There’s an uneasiness here as she wonders about the future of a relationship even while she’s still in it.
“Drown” is the album at its haziest and most electronic. It begins with MARO’s processed vocals before a beat gradually emerges, with a kind of fuzz around the edges of the sound. It’s also one of the more biting breakup songs, as she tries to get enough distance from a relationship that still has a hold on her.
“Love’s Not to Beg” approaches the aftermath of a breakup from a different perspective. Here, the realization is that love shouldn’t be this hard. It begins with acoustic guitar and a quiet vocal but gradually becomes more assured. The guitar gets stronger, the arrangement expands and the voices begin piling up until it almost sounds like a chorus of people singing together at the end.
“2 Years” gives the album one of its biggest musical lifts. The drums are fantastic and drive the entire song forward while everything around them seems to expand. MARO’s voice rises with the music as she sings about the anticipation of seeing someone she loves after a long absence.
“To Grieve You” ends the album on a somber note, wrestling with how to grieve something you haven’t fully been able to let go. The arrangement is one of the album’s most intricate, gradually adding little flourishes of piano, drums, bass and synths without ever becoming crowded.
SO MUCH HAS CHANGED is an album about shifting perspective as you get older, and its musical landscape changes in much the same way. The changes aren’t dramatic. Sounds enter and recede and arrangements get bigger without ever exploding, while MARO’s restrained voice remains the consistent center.
Getting older can mean recognizing the things you need to change about yourself and the people you want around you. Sometimes that means saying goodbye and grieving what you’ve lost. Sometimes it means realizing what love should be. And sometimes it means finding a little more of yourself along the way.
Verdict: Good
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