Review Summary: If you must join a movement, make sure there's dancing
Harry Styles is a man who needs no introduction, but for those who’d like a quick career synopsis, it went something like this:
The X Factor contestant goes full-blown boy band with One Direction and becomes ludicrously famous across the world. Said boy band breaks up (gasp!) as they tend to, and Styles goes solo while making a rock-inspired debut that saw critics hail him as “maturing”.
Fine Line was a backslide into his pop strengths, arguably to his own benefit as Rolling Stone ended up hailing it as a Top 500 album of all-time (insert laugh track here). His most recent outing,
Harry’s House, was also his most polished, with the timeless “As It Was” leading the charge and ensuring that he’d remain a radio staple for years to come. The whole story of Styles’ ascension is very Justin Timberlake-y, and likely to draw the ire of those who’ll say his platform with One Direction made his transition to solo success a foregone conclusion.
Despite Harry’s boy band upbringing, I’ve always appreciated him as an artist who, unlike many of his contemporaries, appears to at least have the
desire to explore alternate sounds. This was evident from the word go when his debut album tapped into a plethora of 70s classic-rock influences (“Sign of the Times” and “Carolina” remain brilliant examples of how pastiche doesn’t always need to be cringe-inducing). Even
Fine Line and
Harry’s House, which by all means marked a return to pop music, carried with them varying elements of funk, synth, and disco. Enter
Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally., which aside from having a ridiculous title is arguably the most removed from One Direction he’s ever been. The songs here admittedly pivot between disco/synth-funk and Harry’s familiar brand of pop, but the leap into exploratory songwriting is tangible once again.
Lead single and five-minute opener “Aperture” made sure that the transition was felt by listeners. The song simmers atop a bass-heavy beat before blending with rich synths and Harry’s penchant for perfect hook-craft. By the time the chorus of “we belong together” makes its way around the corner, Styles has already created a new sonic atmosphere for himself. The same aesthetic is achieved to possibly even greater affect on the slick “Ready, Steady, Go!”, which features an addicting wave of cascading synths which crash over Harry’s digitally-altered voice as pianos sprout out of the backdrop. “…Are You Listening Yet” is one of the funkiest tracks Styles has ever arranged, opening with spoken-verse lyrics over bubbling bass notes and interspersed clashes. Amid current events, the line “If you must join a movement, make sure there's dancing” also stands out as tongue-in-cheek. The ironically titled “Dance No More” feels like a direct ode to the disco era, with syncopated bass, blasting synths, a gospel-styled chorus, and a full-blown gang-chant going down during the bridge. It sounds embarrassing, but much like the name
Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally., it’s all in good fun.
The straightforward pop moments here also generally hit their mark. The song to best illustrate this is called – well, you never would have guessed it – “Pop”. It struts along to a midtempo beat but carries hands-down the catchiest refrain on
Kiss All The Time…; the way the song progresses is all at once fluid and propulsive, almost a nightclub version of “As It Was”. “Coming Up Roses” is orchestrally-driven and ever so elegant – it’s dripping with romance and would make a hell of a wedding song. ‘Paint By Numbers’ is another successful wade into the gentle waters of balladry, and the horns that escort the track to its conclusion are a nice touch. As stated, Styles hit rate here isn’t 100% though – “American Girls” is memorable enough from a melodic standpoint, but a bit vapid otherwise (the main detractor of this entire record is that a lot of the lyrics feel thrown together). “Taste Back” is very
The 1975-forgotten-midtempo-deep-cut in that it does nothing wrong in particular, but fails to stick a landing in any sort of memorable way. While these suboptimal moments exist, they’re fairly sparse and shouldn’t really hold anyone back who’s already chosen to engage with a Harry Styles album.
When taken as a whole, this album is a pretty damn consistent outing for Styles. It continues his tradition of stepping outside of his comfort zone (with one foot still firmly planted in pop music of course), but even the half-measures are better than a constant retread. That’s pretty much where we’re at with Harry Styles in general; he’s never going to dive into the deep end and create something truly genre-defying or earth-shatteringly experimental. Yet, he’s just ambitious enough to keep things moving while dabbling in various genres to continually enrich his music. As a result, Styles remains a reliably good artist who we can always count on to have a few tricks up his sleeve. With
Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally., he’s given us his biggest curveball yet. It may not be perfect, but the hustle deserves respect.
