In Emika, Ninja have a vocalist worthy of the term ‘diva’ through stealth. It’s because she doesn’t have obvious vocal histrionics, but when push comes to shove she has a voice that is completely memorable. She is musically versatile, too, and on this album ‘Filters’ has an effortless cool, ‘Dem Worlds’ operates with cold, cinematic strings, and then ‘After The Fall’ comes over like a very soft Sinead O’Connor. What puts ‘Dva’ up a notch is the quality and breadth of the songwriting, and Emika’s ability to use different ranges of her voice to sound like two different people – her cold lower range and warmer treble sound especially. The opening ‘Hush (Interlude)’ is a monochrome study given a burst of colour by its opening brass, while ‘Sing To Me’ has a chrome plated groove that will surely sound brilliant in a club. Occasionally the feeling is that the album moves around a little too much in mood, but don’t let that put you off – Emika is, for the most part, a class act.
4 out of 5
Reviewed By Ben Hogwood
