Yet for Alexander it feels revolutionary, as though he has reached the place that he was searching for on Communion’s “Border”: somewhere where “my body will be stronger/My heart it will start to shine/And I will be alright”. These analogies are of course descended from years of pop music history: Palo Santo is particularly indebted to Pet Shop Boys’ “It’s a Sin” and Erotica-era Madonna. This continues his preoccupation with gay sex as religious analogy while positioning the dancefloor as its holy site. The therapeutic powers of hedonism are acknowledged in “Up in Flames”, with Alexander singing of “dancing to the sound of your demons falling down.” On “Hallelujah”, he roams the floor searching for someone to dance with “until our bodies are singing hallelujah”. Palo Santo is evocative of the club in its visuals and house-influenced synths by Mikey Goldsworthy and Emre Turkmen, but also frequently in its lyrics. His authority is awakened and evidenced by his self-assurance on the dancefloor, and the fully-formed conviction of his voice. Now the roles are clear: He’s the protagonist, the main event. In the video for lead single and opening track “Sanctify”, he sets out his sexual demands with knowing certainty, stripping down and grinding on the floor with an unmoving stare: a solo dance as manifesto. Years & Years’ second album Palo Santo presents Alexander as a commanding presence in the spaces that he once negotiated tentatively. In “King”, he sang of burgeoning submission while being physically manipulated by a swarm of dancers his expressions betraying his uncertainty in the ambiguous hierarchies of the dance. The development of Years & Years’ music and aesthetics can be read as a mirror of singer Olly Alexander’s personal trajectory: During first album Communion, he occupied the anonymous periphery of “Take Shelter”, and was a sinister club voyeur in “Real”.
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