Electro pop can be a very dangerous category. That is particularly the case if you try to bring some other elements into ‘tried and true’ formulas this genre works with. After all, these formulas have brought quite an amount of success to more than a few of the genre’s artists.
So what if you decide to combine the pop of Blondie and Portishead’s trip hop grooves, with some film noir music flair? Such a combination would certainly mean one thing – no middle ground. It would either really work or it would become a complete mess if you don’t know how to handle it. Oh, and you would really have to come up with some excellent vocals to make it work.
Australia’s Amanda Easton turns out to be more than capable of this on her most recent album Wallflower. Easton has the vocal capabilities that could really suit such music with ease. She has both the tone and the range to go from pop (“At The Door”) to jazzier tones (“Conversation”). She is particularly effective when she brings on the nightshades, like on “Don’t Even Take Your Coat Off.” Even the title works by itself.
Still, everything can go wrong if you don’t come up with music to back up both the musical idea and the vocals, and Easton doesn’t disappoint in that respect either. Her performance and touring experience throughout Australia, Asia and Europe obviously work in her favor. She has full confidence in what she’s doing.
And it works on Wallflower, with ease. One more for the late night stack.
