Review Summary: Park yourself in the middle of the dance floor, stare up at the strobe lights, and lose yourself to the synths.
Robyn’s 2018 comeback album Honey was a sleek, whispered delight that revealed new grooves and nuances with every listen. I rated it amongst my favourite albums of that year, and so did many others, however what that album didn’t deliver was the kind of maximalist synthpop anthem that Robyn had become known for with “Dancing On My Own” and “Call Your Girlfriend” from 2010’s Body Talk. A lot of listeners were left wanting – it turns out we just had to wait another year.
Seeking Thrills’ lead single, “About Work The Dancefloor”, with its spiralling synths, impassioned vocal performance, and thrilling crescendo up to its final chorus, is giddying. A decade ago Robyn pleaded “Stilettos and broken bottles, I’m spinning around in circles”, and in the present, Georgia sings as if she is serenading the very same broken glass covered dance floor – “You want me to stay a while, to be in a moment with you”. An ode to the club, the timelessness of the track can’t help but evoke the feeling of being parked in the middle of one, staring directly up at the strobe lights and losing yourself for three and a half minutes.
Lest this become a track review, it should be said that Georgia is no one-trick pony, and her sophomore album isn’t short of other synth anthems. “Never Let You Go” increases the bpm and serves an ear-worm chorus over mile-a-minute arpeggios, and on “24 Hours” she shows a mastery of the climactic bridge, with the repeated chants of “It’s the rhythm, it’s the rhythm, it’s the rhythm” being a soaring and cathartic highlight on the album.
Seeking Thrills reveals a lot of creative ideas and influences, some of which pay off and some don’t. “Feel It” is a modern indie pop spin on a distinct mid-2000’s UK electro house sound, and marries the genres with exhilarating success, but “Ray Guns” leans too far into M.I.A. worship, sounding like an off-take from 2016’s AIM. “Mellow” is the biggest misstep – a speak-sang nursery rhyme that sounds like the music I’d imagine Kreayshawn would be making in 2020.
It’s an unfortunate inclusion in that it halts the momentum from the fantastic opening four tracks, but it leaves me with the positive notion that Georgia still has a lot of growing to do, and I trust her as a songwriter, vocalist and producer to channel that growth into the right direction. She shines making bright pop bangers anchored in the club, but it’s her willingness to draw from varied influences and experiment that makes her next moves so exciting. Not yet the next Robyn, but a star on the rise for sure.
