Review Summary: Dorian Electra’s collection of covers is daring and surprisingly fun, despite a few awkward stumbles.
When Dorian Electra announced their self-titled album as a collection of covers, I was admittedly caught off guard, especially considering they released two original songs just before the album’s announcement. Upon seeing the final tracklist and realizing which songs were being covered, I was even more surprised. There are pop (or pop-adjacent) selections, such as covers of Gwen Stefani’s
Hella Good, Eminem’s
Without Me, and Gorillaz’s
Feel Good Inc. The more surprising selections, however, include covers of Enya’s
Caribbean Blue, Bob Dylan’s
Mr. Tambourine Man, and Simon & Garfunkel’s
Scarborough Fair. I was curious (and a little nervous) to hear just how Electra’s brand of loud, abrasive, danceable hyperpop would translate on these covers. Would they go the safe route, and tone down their high-energy antics? Or would they go absolute balls to the wall and fully commit to their signature maximalist style?
If you’ve ever heard or known Dorian Electra before today, you already know the answer to that question. For better or worse, every one of the album’s ten tracks are infused with Electra’s unapologetic style and attitude.
Dorian Electra is at its best when the energy is lively and the uptempo club beats are front and center. The run of songs from
Hips Don’t Lie to
Feel Good Inc. are the finest examples of this; each song is driven by its bouncy, infectious beat. Of the album’s “riskier” covers, the biggest surprise success is Electra’s cover of
Caribbean Blue. Enya’s classic is completely reimagined as an energetic, high BPM dance track, and it turned out far better than I would have imagined. Another noteworthy highlight is Electra’s cover of
Young Folks (originally by Peter Bjorn and John), which has an uplifting, optimistic feel to its central beat.
The sad thing about
Dorian Electra is that it lets the foot off the pedal energy-wise too often, which results in the album’s flow feeling inconsistent. The aforementioned Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel covers (
Mr. Tambourine Man and
Scarborough Fair) both miss the mark, and in hindsight feel like awkward fits for Electra’s style.
Scarborough Fair in particular is a complete snooze, consisting almost entirely of Electra’s soft, yet highly autotuned vocals. Considering it’s placed between two of the album’s most uptempo songs, it feels incredibly out of place.
The Model (originally by Kraftwerk) and the album’s closing track
Bizarre Love Triangle (originally by New Order) are both good-but-not-great, primarily because they lack the memorability and pizazz of the album’s high points.
For the most part,
Dorian Electra works far better than I would have expected it to. You could argue that some of the cover choices are strange and overambitious, but you at least can’t fault Electra for being confident and daring enough to try them. Although I wouldn’t necessarily place this at the top of Electra’s discography, it completely subverted my expectations and wound up being a satisfying and respectable endeavor.
3.5 out of 5
