Call me, maybe (but if you do, remember I’m no one-hit wonder) ADRIAN THRILLS reviews The Loveliest Time by Carly Rae Jepsen
CARLY RAE JEPSEN: The Loveliest Time (Interscope)
Verdict: Effervescent sequel
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DEXYS: The Feminine Divine (100% Records)
Verdict: Dramatic but bewildering
Rating:
BETHANY COSENTINO: Natural Disaster (Concord)
Verdict: Promising solo debut
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The ongoing rise of the ‘sister album’ has given the music industry its equivalent of the classic Hollywood movie sequel.
Among those who have released their new songs in two helpings are Taylor Swift — the lockdown albums Folklore and Evermore — and Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams. Last year, the Red Hot Chili Peppers went further with a pair of double albums.
But the most avid practitioner of the art is surely Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen, who is releasing a sister record for the third time.
Her latest effort, The Loveliest Time, is a companion to last October’s The Loneliest Time, and follows the two-part releases of 2015’s Emotion and 2019’s Dedicated.
She calls them B-Sides records, but they feature new songs rather than rarities or remixes. It’s an approach that has hastened her transformation from a bubblegum wannabe endorsed by Justin Bieber into a grown-up solo artist.
Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen’s latest effort, The Loveliest Time, is a companion to last October’s The Loneliest Time
The ex-Canadian Idol contestant became a star after her candy-coated 2011 single Call Me Maybe was a global hit, but her subsequent releases have seen her venture into daredevil synth-pop while sharpening her songwriting.
The Loveliest Time is her frankest, most adventurous record yet. If The Loneliest Time focused on songs written in quarantine, and therefore ‘planted in darkness’, this spin-off, while introspective in places, is more upbeat. It takes 12 tracks left over from her original LA studio sessions and gives them an optimistic polish.
Completed with collaborators including British producer James Ford and Vampire Weekend founder Rostam Batmanglij, it’s dominated by love songs that strike a balance between giddy infatuation and heartache.
On Anything To Be With You, Jepsen admits she’s willing to compromise to make a relationship work. Things take a downturn on dreamy synth ballad Kollage (‘Living with uncertainty, like nothing really matters’), before the good times return on disco banger Psychedelic Switch (‘My whole life now is making sense’).
There’s admirable experimentation among the big hooks. Aeroplanes flies off on some unusual melodic tangents. There’s a hint of auto-tune on the Rostam-produced After Last Night and unexpected woodwind on Weekend Love.
But The Loveliest Time keeps its feet firmly on the dancefloor. Shy Boy is powered by electronic grooves and a sample from American R&B group Midnight Star.
Stadium Love is all big beats, keyboard jabs and booming drums.Jepsen finished the album while on a world tour that included a first appearance at Glastonbury. Resplendent in Barbie pink on the Other Stage in June, she showed she’s more than a one-hit-wonder. This will only enhance her appeal.
The Call Me Maybe singer’s latest album is dominated by love songs that strike a balance between giddy infatuation and heartache
Kevin Rowland dropped the ‘Midnight Runners’ appendage from his band’s name a decade ago, but the Dexys singer still rolls back the years on his first album of original songs in 11 years. With trombonist Big Jim Paterson back, The Feminine Divine opens in glorious fashion. The One That Loves You and I’m Going To Get Free wouldn’t have sounded out of place on 1980’s brass-dominated Searching For The Young Soul Rebels.
The album is a concept piece reflecting how Rowland’s attitude to women has changed — a switch influenced by a meditative 2017 trip to Thailand on which he studied East Asian spirituality and the notion of women as deities.
He begins, on The One That Loves You, by acting out a hard-man routine in which he threatens to punch anyone who looks at his girlfriend the wrong way.
But the mood shifts as he starts denouncing traditional views of masculinity. ‘I tried so hard to live a lie, pretending I was some tough guy, but now I’ve had enough,’ he sings on It’s Alright Kevin, a spot of self-flagellation that’s not as heavy going as it might sound.
Kevin Rowland dropped the ‘Midnight Runners’ appendage from his band’s name a decade ago
The album is a concept piece reflecting how Rowland’s attitude to women has changed — a switch influenced by a meditative 2017 trip to Thailan
With Rowland playing a submissive man being bossed around in the bedroom by a sexually dominant woman, it merely replaces one set of stereotypes with another
A breezy rewrite of 2003’s Manhood, it’s a freewheeling homage to 1960s pop-soul that makes the most of his flair for drama.
Things get weirder as the album progresses. There’s a move to slinky electronics and lyrics that are an extended mea culpa for previous misjudgments. ‘Women are the superstars, the goddesses on earth,’ sings Rowland on the title track. ‘They need to be cherished, worshipped and adored.’
Goddess Rules, a Prince-like duet with female singer Kamaria Castang, is stranger still.
With Rowland playing a submissive man being bossed around in the bedroom by a sexually dominant woman, it merely replaces one set of stereotypes with another.
Bethany Cosentino made her name celebrating sun, sea and surf in indie-rock duo Best Coast
In contrast, penultimate track My Submission is a hymn-like ballad which shows that pop’s Celtic soul brother can still produce music of breathtaking beauty.
Dexys start a UK tour on September 5 at the Barbican, York, (ticketmaster.co.uk).
Bethany Cosentino made her name celebrating sun, sea and surf in indie-rock duo Best Coast.
The Californian’s first solo effort adds richness and depth by tapping into Sheryl Crow’s country-rock and Lucinda Williams’s storytelling for inspiration.
Crow’s guitarist, Jeff Trott, guests on album highlight A Single Day, with mandolin and pedal steel also prominent.
‘This is the hottest summer I can ever remember, ‘cause the world is on fire,’ she sings on the title track.
Her concern over climate change is augmented by off-kilter character sketches and more personal songs.
Outta Time namedrops Bonnie Raitt’s Nick Of Time. It’s Fine is a stinging kiss-off to an ex. ‘I am evolved,’ she sings. ‘You’ve stayed the same.’ She’s moving on.
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