Here's some older Dum Dum Girls for ya!
The album starts off with “Show Me”, which is a little slower of a track than I was expecting to be honest, but it’s also sexier than I thought it would be. Right from the opening few minutes of this album this is obviously some of the classiest and cleanest production Kristin has worked with. “Show Me” isn’t a show-stopping number, it’s fairly simple actually, but Kristin Kontrol makes it work nicely. While this is far from the best track here is just hearing Kristin Kontrol up against something that isn’t frantic Indie Pop for once. Not to mention were dealing with much more personal lyrics from her which is always a plus. The production here is solid, the guitars are sleek, and for the most part this is solid laid back pop. Nothing too crazy, but for all of my Dum Dum Girls fans out there this new sound of Kristin Kontrol is really going to make you feel one of two things. To put it bluntly, you’re either going to be super happy with this new much poppier sound, or really miss your Dum Dum Girls records. Either way you’re feeling with this new sound, lets move on. Up next we have “White Street”. This track immediately has a little more bite to it and is much more upbeat. Not to mention, there’s a serious 80’s pop feel to this one, a good majority of the album actually. “White Street” has such a great Synth Pop sound that Kristin Kontrol actually sounds right at home. This is easily one of the most intimate performances we’ve gotten from her over the years. And as poppy as this is, I can’t really resist, I dig this track a lot. And honestly, there are some Dum Dum Girls elements here, especially from their “Too True” album with all the synth’s and the dreamy atmosphere. Is this what I was expecting? No, not really. Do I have my regrets? No, not really. This slick dreamy 80’s pop sound really works quite well up agains Kristin Kontrol’s smooth vocals. However, Kristin Kontrol in a few areas seems to lose focus of this sound with a completely opposite sound. While so many tracks here have a great dreamy 80’s synth pop sound, others almost have a 90’s dance sound. It’s not necessarily terrible, but I just don’t feel like Kristin’s performance translates as well when put up against that sound. Take for example “(Don’t) Wannabe)”. Right off the bat the riff to this one just doesn’t sit right with me at all. Lyrically Kristin sounds fine, but the atmosphere here just seems so out of place. On earlier tracks she sounded as if she was saluting the sound of great 80’s pop, but here she just sounds like she’s trying to rip it off in the most corny way. The track does pick up about halfway through, but for the first minute or so I really don’t even know what she was thinking. Not to mention at least earlier had hypnotizing chorus’s. “(Don’t) Wannabe)” is honestly just really annoying. There are other tracks on “X-Communicate” that fall short as well, but we’ll chat about them later, back to talking about how freaking cool some of these tracks sound. On “Drive The Night”, she once again finds herself sounding super comfortable up against an upbeat synth pop tune. She’s really making this sound her own very well, and while the backing vocals are kinda cheesy occasionally they actually work pretty well overall. The very dreamy backing vocals actually give off the most Dum Dum Girls sound we’ve heard here so far to be honest. The Chorus here is sweet, the atmosphere is fantastic, this is the sound she really needs to focus deeply on.
Overall I feel like this is a solid pop album, but I also feel like on a few tracks Kristin Kontrol get’s a little further away from that dreamy 80’s sound she sounds so comfortable on. Take for example “Skin Shed” which I had high hopes for once I heard just how heavy this one was on the synth. However, quickly it turns into a track that sounds like it would be more comfortable in “Night At The Roxbury” than this album. “Skin Shed” takes a hard left turn, going from a fantastic dreamy Synth Pop sound to almost a 90’s no-name dance hit, which is absolutely heartbreaking. Lyrically this one really doesn’t do anything to impress either, it honestly sounds like Kristin is rehashing things she said on earlier tracks. While the driving beat is pretty solid, Kristin just sounds so out of place amidst all of this. There are some catchy moments, but overall “Skin Shed” just falls very flat. “What Is Love” starts off by sounding more like a salad than anything, and honestly sounds like something off of Dum Dum Girls’ “Too True” album. But oh God that first minute is just so dull and lifeless, and even when the track picks up and has a more interesting instrumental, Kristin’s lyrics here are just so freakin’ cheesy. And that’s a real shame because instrumentally this is one of the most diverse tracks here, if the song writing was just a little better here it would have been solid. Then we have my least favorite track here, “Face 2 Face”. The beat here is confusing to say the very least, I really don’t even know how to even begin to describe it. The beat is just so far away from that great sound Kristin was producing earlier. The beat is just so much heavier, and if you thought Kristin sounded out of place on some of the earlier tracks, she absolutely sounds even more out of place here. But like I said, overall this is a solid album, I just think that Kristin needs to hunker down and focus on that sleek 80’s sound, like on the album’s title track and lead single “X-Communicate”. Here, Kristin sounds so comfortable in this atmosphere that she instantly makes it her own. It’s got plenty of great synth’s, and the production continues to be solid, there’s even a tiny bit of darkness on this one. “X-Communicate” is catchy and sweet, but it’s also got a great sense of mystery that I used to get while listening to Dum Dum Girls’ “Too True”. This may sound like an 80’s knock off at first, but Kristin’s great lyrics really set this apart, and show Kristin coming into her own in the best way.
Kristin Kontrol actually end the album rather well, starting with “Going Thru The Motions”. Following a series of some of my least favorite tracks here, the heavy synth and very minimal beat work really well for her. “Going Thru The Motions” just shows how much Kristin can pull off that fantastic 80’s throwback sound when she really focuses on that, this one also has some of her better lyrical moments. Which brings me to “Smoke Rings”, the album’s finale. If you’re a fan of dreamy indie pop this one here is absolutely something you’re going to want to give a strong listen to, lyrically and instrumentally this is by far the dreamiest track here. If you’re a fan of Dum Dum Girls or Kristin "Dee Dee" Welchez in general, give this album a listen!
Rating: 7.7/10
Give A Listen To: "X-Communicate", "Smoke Rings", "White Street", "Going Thru The Motions"
Overall Thoughts: There's a real resurgence in this "throwback to the 80's" sound, and Kristin Kontrol absolutely does the sound justice. The only real problems I found on this album came from her drifitng away from that sound. The production here is solid though, and just to witness Kristin come into her own as much as she does is commendable. If the song-writing was just a little stronger, and she didn't slip out of that 80's atmosphere on a few tracks, this would have been massive. I honestly think in the future she can easily produce a throwback 80's pop sounding album just as good as Carly Rae Jepsen's "E•MO•TION" or Chari XCX's "True Romance".
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