Author: Jane Cornwell
View album and artist detailsArtist/band: |
Populous |
Label: |
Wonderwheel Recordings |
Magazine Review Date: |
Aug/Sept/2020 |
Populous is a producer and queer activist from Lecce, a reggae-and-dancehall-loving town on the heel of the boot of Italy, whose knack for blending digital sounds with soul, hip-hop, reggae and whatever else takes his fancy has expressed itself on well-received albums including 2005's Queue for Love and 2014's Night Safari. The latter, an imaginary nocturnal border crossing, hinted at a penchant for concepts.
This latest effort is billed as a paean to women, or at least, to the stereotype-defying divas whose aesthetic dovetails with Populous’ own. Some of these women feature on the album's cover – Grace Jones, Beth Ditto, RuPaul, Italian icon Loredana Bertè – while others contribute guest vocals to tunes that march from digital cumbia to glitch electronica. Purists will probably dismiss this as synthetic, too hardcore, or take umbrage at its assembly line of relentless BPMs. Still, there's grace to be found in ‘So Lo Que Soy’, with its dreamy melodies and Latin rhythms, and ‘Flores No Mar’, which sees vocalist Emmanuelle paying homage to the goddess Lemanja of Afro-Brazilian Candomble. To survive a full listen, think 21st-century Buddha Bar and Populous as an Italian Claude Challe. Then neck a shot, and dance.
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