Box for Buddy, Box for Star: Finally a "deluxe" album that earns its existence

I’ve always been chief-skeptic of the “deluxe album” genre. Look: in my book, if it wasn’t good enough to make the original cut, it ain’t worth my time. Plus, with so much great music being released every week and such limited time to engage with it, why would I prioritize some album’s B-sides when I still haven’t listened to the new Maria Somerville album? Or those two 9.0+ rated albums I saw on Pitchfork a few weeks back? Shouldn’t I have listened to that FKA Twigs album more than once by now? You get it. If being a corporate stooge has taught me one thing in this life, it’s that sometimes you gotta prioritize.

So color me surprised when I discovered that one of my favorite songs of the year was slated to be part of an upcoming “deluxe” album release. Back in March, I came across MJ Lenderman’s twangy cover of This Is Lorelei’s sadboi banger “Dancing In The Club” and was immediately smitten by its lovelorn vulnerability. After obsessing over Lenderman’s rendition, which is featured on the new deluxe edition of This Is Lorelei's 2024 debut Box for Buddy, Box for Star, I became enamored with the original synth-pop version of the song, whose cascading keys and autotuned vocals provide a welcome counterpoint to the lyrics’ crushing turns of phrase (“A loser never wins / and I’m a loser, always been”). It also served as my entry point into the rest of Box for Buddy, Box for Star, an eclectic and mesmerizing album whose mishmosh of Americana, Hyperpop and Indie Rock has proven to be endlessly fascinating.

In addition to “Dancing in the Club,” the deluxe version of Box for Buddy, Box for Star, released this past Friday, also features two other excellent re-imaginings of album highlights: Snail Mail contributes a jaunty cover of the Elliott Smith-coded “Two Legs” while Bob and Sarah Amos lend their gorgeous vocals to the album’s countrified opener “Angel’s Eye.” Each of the covers adds new dimensionality to these already-great songs, and, at least in the case of “Dancing in the Club,” threaten to become the definitive versions going forward. 

Much like the Brat remix album last year convinced me that remix albums could actually be worthwhile works on their own, the deluxe version of Box for Buddy, Box for Star has called into question all my previous anti-deluxe biases. At least in this case, I stand corrected: listen to the deluxe version of this album. You won't be disappointed.