A decade in the making, the quality of the songs here are stellar, they firework and twitch attentively, prism-pour with a slanted lyricism that inventively hits the mark, lushly orchestrated in brave big-band bazazz and trombone / trumpet serenades.
My head caught in the hazy drift of “Coast” and the questioning romance of the opener, “Nobody Loves You More”. Kim Deal‘s unique vocal style holds you in a close-knit spell, then slams you into the party sparkle of “Crystal Breath”. What a gem of alt-ness, roasted on paunchy fuzz and glittery abstraction as her words stitch their freestyle sense.
Slipping back into the tambourine slap / country twang of “Are You Mine?” – a loving question from her Alzheimer’s-confused mother — it’s heartfelt, melancholic, stabbingly personal, while “Disobedience” struts right in there, chiselled and chugging with a Breeders-like swagger. “Big Ben Beat” ripping it all up — raw’n’shouty, a nod back to her criminally brief AMPS flirtation of the late nineties – so good to hear that thistled drama again.
The intoxicating jiver of “Come Running” giving me a tumbled-down poetic magic that typified Pod’s anarchic glow. Another beautifully jagged album moment that pushes into the cute melodies of the album closing track. “A Good Time Pushed” is charred with a travelogued optimism that is simply infectious, re-establishing that love (I’ve always felt) for everything she’s ever been involved with.
Going solo is often hard, but Kim has absolutely nailed it here.
-Michael Rodham-Heaps-
