Aldous Harding’s “Fever” is piano rock distilled to its essentials
Aldous Harding announced her fourth studio album, Warm Chris, in January with its slippery lead single, "Lawn." Where that song shuffles sidelong in and out of focus, its new follow-up, "Fever," walks a straight line, the New Zealand singer-songwriter making direct eye contact with her listener (though the two tracks' respective press image tell the opposite story). "Fever, when we met at hotel reception / 'Never, have I been so tired,' you said / You bet, guess we did what the other expected," she begins over a no-nonsense, four-chord piano progression and a stretchy bass line.