Light Sweet Crude | Act 1: Hybrid — 'Pop Making Sense' review

Pop Making Sense by David Byrne with Tony Peregrin2013-12-25

Blonde divas Britney Spears and Beyonce have new albums out to add to the year-end rush. "Perfume" and "Now That I Found You" dare to shed the overproduced dance sound Spears has been favoring. But she sings as if clothespins are pinching her nose and her tongue during "Work Bitch." The club-ready tracks—ike "It Should Be Easy," the mindless "Tik Tik Boom" and "Til It's Gone"—surely will give her extended live engagement in Las Vegas an extra jolt of energy. Just be mindful of cliche-plagued fillers "Passenger" and "Don't Cry" on Britney Jean.

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On Light Sweet Crude ( Act 1: Hybrid ), Vanessa Daou puts her music into motion. "Revolution" has strings with a groove that the body cannot resist. On "Danger Ahead," Daou opens with spoken word as if at a beat club, then steps next door to a lounge once the slick electronic beat sneaks in. Love is many things.

Daou creatively illustrates the powerful emotion and then silences the opposition by unveiling love's universal definition on the standout "Love Is War" by singing, "Love is peace, love is war. Love is what we're fighting for." "One Think I'm Missing" finds her mesmerizing and breathless over a drawn-out, hypnotic beat. Light Sweet Crude never loses its groove or sensuality. Whether it is her vocal's timing, her phrasing of lyrics or captivating me in her music's rhythm, once again Daou is simply spellbinding. The self-released Light Sweet Crude and remixes to "Danger Ahead" are available now digitally.

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