Blank Project
25 February 2014
3.5 stars out of 5
Blank Project is
Swedish singer Neneh Cherry’s first new solo album in eighteen years. Produced
by Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet), the album’s minimal percussion and keyboard
instrumentation (courtesy of RocketNumberNine) allows Cherry’s vocals to take
up much of the space. Much of the album is vibrant and exciting in its
experimentation, though the energy dissipates over the last three tracks and as
a result the final eighteen minutes feel weak and unnecessary.
“Across the Water” is a quiet but tense track featuring only
acoustic percussion and Cherry’s vocals. “Blank Project” is a frantic running
of the gauntlet through more hand-hit things and droning keyboards. The album
continues to build in intensity and become incrementally more electronic with
“Naked,” a stark, ice-cold 3 AM stroll through the fog-filled streets of an
industrial wasteland. “Weightless” seems aimed for the dance floor, although
its arrangement and instrumentation is anything but typical for the
discothèque. It’s a playful romp through several house music clichés,
including—wait for it—“more cowbell!” Yes, I went there, but only because
Cherry and Hebden went there first. “Cynical” is one part glitch, one part odd
time signature tomfoolery, and one part trip-hoppy jazz. The duet with fellow
Swedish chanteuse Robyn, “Out of the Black,” is, unfortunately, the weakest
track on the record by a wide margin. The vocals by both singers seem laboured
and lacking any sort of spark, and the music seems magically drained of all the
interesting aspects the record had up to this point. Shoulda been a b-side, is
what I’m sayin’.
The remaining two tracks on the record are almost as flat
and dull as “Out of the Black,” which is a shame because Blank Project had seemed so fresh and interesting up to that point.
Regardless, BP represents a great
re-ignition of a solo career since her last record, which was released, believe
it or not, before this autumn’s first-year university students were even born.
reviewed by Richard Krueger
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