Review Summary: Kiesza is back on course and heading in the right direction
A vast improvement over prevous "Weird Kid" release, this second full-length from the Canadian-based pop statlett flits from jittery, electro-shocked rockers to touching ballads to jangly electronic disco rock anthems. Lick Drop produced the album, capturing what must be really intense live energy with clarity and precision. It's like going to a show, in other words, except you can understand all the lyrics.
The album starts with a bang, the manic, super-charged "Run Renegade" pitting inspiration from
Donna Summer's jittery, hair-pulling vocals against stabs of guitar in a punk-leaning manifesto that breaks, unexpectedly, for lyrical interludes. It's a hint at the band's split personality, all-out rock jams interspersed with quiet bits of melody. "Can't Be Saved," which follows, slows things down and slips a roots-rocking flavor into the mix, its heavy ringing guitar notes and earnest lyrics reminiscent of
Daft Punk's classic tracks. Then it's back to palm-muted urgency with "When Boys Cry" one of the album's best cuts, as sweet falsetto vocals swirl around a hard-hit energy foundation. But this is not your typical club band of
The Chemical Brothers lovers.
The best songs on the album are a diverse merge, R&B ballad "Love Never Dies" to the anarchic distortion-fuzzed sweetness of "One Sweet Day" to the
Mariah Carey-ish roots bravado of "Crave." The cuts are united less by style and more by ferocious energy that somehow lets its vulnerability show.
Contrary to its title, Crave is more and more from a young singer just now finding her signature sound. Kiesza could go in any of several directions from here... but let's hope they continue to go in all of her next albums.
