Review Summary: You want drama? I'll give you a reality show
Indeed, Erika de Casier does not indulge in exuberance, both from a purely musical point of view and from a personal perspective. She tells the story of her life, however horribly normal it may seem. Born in Portugal to Belgian (aight) and Cape Verdean parents, raised in Denmark, Erika de Casier began hanging out with the Copenhagen-based house collective Regelbau before sketching out a track, "Puppy Love," that caught the eye of collective member DJ Central. The two then shared co-production duties on Casier's debut album,
Essentials, released on her very own Independent Jeep label. With a Y2K aesthetic reminiscent of Mean Girls' pink wardrobe,
Essentials drew its sensuality and elegance from '90s R&B, enriching its recipe with instrumentations ranging from G-Funk to jungle to downtempo, with here and there dashes of sophisti-pop thanks to the presence of harps. A sufficiently convincing formula to step up and release her second album,
Sensational, on legendary English label 4AD.
This signature does not mean it's the end of independence for de Casier, on the contrary: she has embraced independence. Once again co-producer (alongside Natal Zaks), but also singer-songwriter, music video director, as well as artwork designer, the DIY spirit is not only a working method: it is at the very center of
Sensational's discourse. Long gone are the debut's stories about the various stages of love: here, de Casier adopts the role of the ultimate independent woman, the sole master of her own life and destiny. "Someone to Chill With" is her way of saying that she doesn't need to lean on anyone, while "All You Talk About" is an anti-consumerist anthem arguing that, in a J-Lo fashion, diamonds indeed are pretty and shiny, but they ain't worth much compared to true love. This simplicity is one of the driving forces of the album, shown not only through the different themes - "Good Times" being a non-boomer way to say that talking is better than messaging -, but especially in the lyrics. Direct and without any trace of convoluted metaphors, the lyrics aim to transcribe as simply as possible the artist's various states of mind. This lyrical simplicity leaves the necessary space for the production to reveal the full extent of its subtlety. "Busy" fuses electronic harps with Aaliyah-like vocals and a garage beat, while "Polite" is a modern incarnation of Sade, a sophisticated pop delight with elements of soul and smooth jazz. These references from the past are omnipresent in the album, whether it's through touches of Eurodance, house loops, or melodies that Max Martin would have wanted to sell to Britney Spears. Fortunately, kitsch and pastiche are avoided: the homemade aspect of the album administers a warmth to the immaculate production and shows a restraint worthy of the 4AD house.
This restraint is however the record's main - and only - fault: if no track is bad per se, some of them struggle to truly attract attention because of their production being too introspective, and very few tunes (namely "Busy", "Polite", and "Drama") manage to be as catchy as the best moments of the first album - such as "Little Bit" or "Do My Thing", which are still certified bangers. It's true that
Sensational compensates for this general lack of explosiveness with a better overall experience and a continuous coherence compared to her debut, but Erika de Casier lacks a
hit, a real one, the kind that teleports her into the
indie darlings dimension revered by Pitchfork, Anthony Fantano, and basically everyone else. While she's probably not far - at all - from that goal,
Sensational is not yet the expected R&B bomb gathering an uberlarge audience into its sultry world. Still, few albums are going to accompany the next summer parties as well as this one. The post-covid baby boom is going to be wild.
