Personally feel that the greater ambition and sonic diversity of this one is also complimented by her most focused and consistently great set of songs yet. The quality of the songwriting (especially the melodies but also lyrically) does not let up, “album” tracks and singles alike. The highs are as high as they were on the other albums (Lark and No Mirrors vs Windows, Acrobat, or Sister), but in addition this is the first one of hers that doesn’t have any filler tracks to these ears (whereas the last three all had at least 2)
I accept that an indie artist getting the string section out always invites the possibility of “bloated” or “needlessly frilly” criticisms, or criticisms that the artist is covering for a lack of genuine ideas. IMO they’re used extremely well - in addition to the title track moments like the mid section New Love Cassette or the sweeping line towards the end of Change elevate those tracks rather than bog them down simply because they’re composed exquisitely. They feel like they they’ve been included because the make the song better rather than having been shoehorned in.
TL;DR - can understand why the strings are an issue for some who don’t like strings in general, but I think they complement rather than suffocate her boldest, most consistent and dazzling set of songs yet
