(Sunday Best/Shock)

Come out to play

Ebony Bones’ debut album doesn’t sound like a self-produced effort laboured over in a tiny English bedroom in between her outfit changes, but apparently it was. It sounds less like a bedroom and more like a street carnival with whistles around necks and legions of hands clapping in unison. We Know All About U performs the same melding of world rhythms with electro beats M.I.A. does, with African percussion, wonky synth and a playground hopscotch chant that goes, “La la la / We know all about you / Yes, we do.” Still, sounding like M.I.A. hasn’t hurt Santigold any. The Muzik is less easy to categorise, sounding more like a ’90s raver version of David Bowie crossed with Cyndi Lauper with happy hardcore lyrics like, “All we got is each other and the music to keep us warm.” Bones has a fine line in anti-love songs like Guess We’ll Always Have New York and a rock against marriage called Im Ur Future X Wife. In G.O.D. We Trust (Gold, Oil & Drugs) samples one of Howard Beale’s timeless rants from Network as a prelude to the sound of moneygeddon with a wonky dubstep beat. It’s fun stuff, though sometimes that carnival gets a little too crowded and you just want a pause for breath. Final track Don’t Fart On My Heart in particular sounds like there are too many competing ideas crammed into the one song. It’s still an enjoyable jumble, however.

***˝

JODY MACGREGOR

Comments (1)

Write Comment
Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Poster's IP addresses are logged.
Name:
Comment:
Code:*