Jessy Lanza is a fascinating artist, and listening to her is like looking both forwards and backwards at the same time. Some of the minimal electronic textures hark back to the mid-1980s, but at the same time the imaginative rhythms power forward to the future. ‘VV Violence’ is one of several excellent songs where this tension exerts itself, and Lanza’s own tight, breathy vocals give off a strong nervous energy. The style is compact and energetic, then, but ‘I Talk BB’ and ‘Begin’ show Lanza can do slower R&B to good effect too. Her cutesy vocal on ‘It Means I Love You’ gets a bit much initially, but then the track shows its tougher side, an indication of Junior Boys’ Junior Greenspan’s sensitive production hand. Meanwhile ‘Oh No’, towards the end of the album, is out and out brilliance with its rattling beat, a great calling card for its album of the same name. A big step forward for a vocalist whose formidable talent was already in evidence.
4 out of 5
Reviewed by: Ben Hogwood
