Coming into orbit from beyond my persona sphere of musical knowledge, Nathassia Devine is, apparently, a ‘fast rising queen of electronica’. That she’s catapulted into the Top 20 Club Chart above big names like Katy Perry, Katy B, Ellie Goulding and my mate Lethal Bizzle has to count for something, though, and there’s no question she’s been making waves ahead of the release of her debut long-player.
Thematically, the album’s title is all you need to know, and her approach to composition and arrangement also reflects a thoughtful and ambitious mindset. Much of the album is given to uplifting commercial dance tunes of the sort as likely to coast into the singles chart as to get dancefloors bouncing, and Devine certainly knows all of the popular stylistic elements of commercial dance music: the breakdown, the synth strikes, the build and drop, and tracks like ‘Signs’ and ‘In My Head’.
Elsewhere, ‘Over the Moon’ sounds a bit like late 90s Madonna and ‘Star Sapphire’ welds an insistent bass throb to a propulsive beat with some nicely-timed breaks that take things down to a kaleidoscopic trance.
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‘Telepathically’ begins as a minimalist ballad before a grating bass stabs in and then turns toward a trip-hoppy dub workout that’s unexpected and certainly contrasts with the rest of the album. ’Dark or Light’ is ethereal and exotic, its minimalist motifs swirling around Devine’s dreamy vocal, and delicate Eastern hints trace ‘Creation’. ‘Light of the World’ draws most overtly on Devine’s multicultural background, and is perhaps the album’s least successful track because it feels like a formulaic sub-Eurovision dance-pop number and suffers for it.
On the whole, though, it’s a solid album. Very much geared toward a mainstream dance audience, Devine has clearly got the potential to reach a vast audience that should see her carve a respectable career – and fair play to her.
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