Bonafide Magazine @ MSN: Review: Kelis – Food |  |
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Posted: 15 Apr 2014 12:24 AM PDT
Kelis has been releasing albums for over 15 years now, a fact that seems remarkable when listening to her breakthrough single, Caught Out There. There is still something fresh about the chorus' melody, a swoop of melting keyboard lines that wouldn't be out of place on most contemporary electronica records. It has been a career marked with a number of stand-out songs, often facilitated by production from The Neptunes. Whatever pop success Milkshake may have enjoyed, it remains an inherently strange arrangement with its monster keyboard and chiming beat. This has often been the hallmark of Kelis' best material, a marrying of soulful pop with the punch of the Neptunes' angular instrumentation. With Food, Kelis' fifth album to date, this combination is eschewed in favour of collaborative production and song writing with David Sitek (TV on the Radio) and Todd Simon. It certainly feels different, with lush, far more conventional arrangements that recall some of the later work of TV on the Radio. The brass and percussion combination on Cobbler feels like it could have been lifted straight from Dear Science, albeit with Kelis channelling Curtis Mayfield's delivery throughout the verse. As a singer, she does not display an especially dynamic range, though it has a distinctiveness of tone that sets it apart from many of her peers. Bless the Telephone shows it off in an uncommon light, a measured ballad, set against a male counterpart and guitar. Unfortunate then that the lyrics are saccharine, and that the song feels underdeveloped. |
