Review Summary: Anyone seen those missing pieces?
We’re just into the second quarter of the year, with a fresh list of new releases. As is always the case with every year, it’s another round of musical chairs where the bands and artists with the hit record of a couple of years ago making a purported comeback, with every press release surrounding the release emphasising that artist X is “back”. This time around, it’s Lady Sovereign’s turn. If the name isn’t immediately recognisable, perhaps the phrases “love me or hate me, it’s still an obsession” or “everybody get random!” ring a bell? These were the calling cards of Love Me Or Hate Me and Random from 2007’s
Public Warning; a flawed Brit-hop debut that nevertheless succeeded (somewhat critically, mostly commercially) on the back of its stellar production, bratty lyrics and effortless flow.
Now that you’re reacquainted, let’s brief: Lady Sovereign is back with her second album,
Jigsaw. And there’s been quite a bit of hype about it leading up to its release.
There’s plenty to live up to on Sov’s sophomore, and there’s certainly been ample time in-between releases to deliver something with substance. Certainly, if the lead singles were anything to go by, Jigsaw would have been a delightful listen. “So Human” is already one of the most fun songs of the year, not only sticking in one’s head persistently with its boppy choruses and cleverly-patterned rhymes, but leaving one to seriously ponder just why
The Cure’s hit “Close to Me” (the sampled beat in this song) has never been used in this way before. “I Got You Dancing”, too, is a grimey, unadulterated dancefloor gem. The gritty synth bassline is paired with both harmonious and robotic vocoder that even T-Pain would be impressed by, mixing the best of both electropop worlds.
How on earth Lady Sovereign managed to get things so right on these two tracks and then subsequently get damn-near-everything else so, so wrong on
Jigsaw looks to be one of 2009’s biggest musical mysteries. The bulk of Jigsaw suffers from either providing non-stop irritation or proving to be completely unlistenable altogether. Opener “Let’s Be Mates” is proof that Sov simply can’t do seductive; even with monotone, prolix verses and a thudding house beat. Elsewhere, she gets the bright idea of having a turn at singing. Needless to say, this ain’t no
808s and Heartbreak-esque revelation: when Lady spat “I can’t dance and I really can’t sing” in Love Me Or Hate Me, she really should have emphasised the latter. It’s not so bad in the title track, which is saved by the pleasantries of a killer bass hook and some formidable experimentation with a live string section. On the woeful "Guitar", however, you simply feel the urge to put the poor girl out of her misery and remind her that most hip-hop artists get other people to sing on their tracks for a reason.
Didn’t think it could get any worse? You’re not thinking hard enough, obviously. "Food Play" is five minutes of hair-ripping musical agony, the kind we haven’t seen the likes of since Crazy Frog. If the incessant chipmunk wails of the chorus don’t deter you instantly, then the gratuitously vulgar and faux-kinky lyricism will certainly leave you heaving in a nearby bucket.
Push me, push me up against that 'fridgerator
I ain't frigid
I'm just expressin' myself as one really hungry midget
Crack open them twiglets so we can munch them like piglets
So we can get hot and heated now tell me are you really
Now chocolates, caramel, and runny honey
You can run it all over my face or even on my tummy
Now what about an english breakfast that could be really yummy
Or you could cover me in porridge...
Precious little, if anything at all, will be remembered in 2009 as being any worse than this song- and we’re talking absolutely anything happening here.
The obvious-puns demon on your left shoulder will have had this one coming, but at the end of the day, there’s nothing else for it: Jigsaw is missing a lot of pieces; the vital ones that would have assisted it in succeeding Public Warning with dignity intact. Lady Sovereign has found herself in a ditch, and it seems shamefully unlikely she’ll get herself out- short of sampling every other track on
The Head on the Door with Dr. Luke at the helm, of course.
