REVIEWSMUS
GETTY IMAGESKEY TRACKS:“DoIt,TryIt”,“Bibi
the Dog”, “Sunday Night 1987”
92 ★★★★★ Classic | ★★★★Excellent|★★★Good|★★Fair|★Poor Ratings are supervised by the editors of ROLLING STONE.
IC
If there’s a moment that sums up why Gwen
Stefani is so eternally beloved, it’s the surreal
scene from The Voice last year when she led
her team through New Radicals’ “You Get
What You Give” in a swirl of confetti. Only
Stefani could sound so perky while threatening to kick Mar-
ilyn Manson’s ass in. This is the fi rst solo album in a decade
from one of the Nineties’ most improbably long-running su-
perstars – the dowager countess of the world’s ska mums.
Stefani hasn’t had much spare time since the last No
Doubt album, in late 2012; she’s had another baby, joined
The Voice, divorced Gavin Rossdale and jumped into a
high-profile tabloid romance with Voice
co-star Blake Shelton. So maybe it’s not
surprising that the album has a rushed
feel – a likable but low-personality version of her familiar
bubble-pop solo mode, alternating between mif ed breakup
plaints (the Amy Winehouse tribute “Naughty”) and gushy
new-boyfriend songs. In “Send Me a Picture”, Stefani tries
to fi gure out this whole sexting thing the kids are into, beg-
ging her man, “Wanna see you right now with no fi lter/Take
another snapshot in the mirror.” But the strongest song here
is the simplest: “Truth”, where Stefani faces her future over
a straightforward guitar hook and says, “They’re all gonna
say I’m rebounding, so rebound all over me.” ROB SHEFFIELDGwen Stefani
Rebounds Into
Her Future
Gwen Stefani This Is What the Truth Feels Like
Interscope ★★★On her fi rst solo album in a decade, the
enduring star rocks some bubbly optimismSummer Flake
Hello Friends Rice is Nice
★★★★
Dream pop with a hard edge
from captivating talentThe second album from Sum-
mer Flake – the vehicle for
Adelaide-spawned indie sa-
vant Stephanie Crase – marks
a clear evolution from the DIY
ethic of her acclaimed debut
You Can Have It All (2013).
Thanks to production from
Geoffrey O’Connor (Crayon
Fields), Hello Friends is an ex-
pansive, cinematic listen, yet
it somehow still feels intimate
and beholden to Crase’s lo-fi
origins. Her voice (and overall
sound) recalls Juliana Hatfi eld,
while guitar lines that woozily
meander before combusting
hint at Bernard Butler and ear-
ly Suede. Crase has conjured a
rough kind of magic on a record
that will surely be among the
most enigmatic Australian re-
leases this year. BARNABY SMITHFilter
Crazy Eyes Caroline
★★½
Industrial-rock lifer refuses to
grow up on seventh albumTwenty-three years on, front-
man Richard Patrick is all that
remains of industrial-rockers
Filter. The veteran’s venom
remains undiluted – “I’ve got
nothing but rage to kill the
pain,” he whispers on “Mother
E”. Patrick’s throat-shredding
scream is huskier these days,
but he’s still undoubtedly the
dude who helped vault indus-
trial into the pop charts back
in 1995 with “Hey Man, Nice
Shot”. His post-adolescent
lyrics verge on puerile, but U-
turns from lumbering electro-
rock into killer pop anthems
(“Nothing In My Hands”) keep
Crazy Eyes fresh enough. “City
Of Blinding Riots” has a great
EDM groove, and “Take Me
To Heaven” surges like classic
Stone Temple Pilots. Defi antly
unfashionable. MARCUS TEAGUEJunk is going to be unlike any
M83 record we’ve heard.
“Do It, Try It” is a Super-
tramp-meets-vaudeville art-
disco track built around a set
of housey piano keys and weird
pitch-shifted vocals. In spite of
the strangeness, it’s still rec-
ognisably M83 – just. You can
hear it in Gonzalez’s voice as it
bends around skyward-bound
synths at the song’s climax in a
(very faint) echo of “Midnight
City”. This familiar-but-not
feeling is one that continues
over the record’s 15 tracks as
Gonzalez introduces a swathe
of new sounds while taking a
backseat vocally, leaving sing-
ing duties largely to a curious
bunch of supporting players.
“Go!” introduces the sweet
voice of French singer Mai Lan,
who appears on four songs. She
coos over an elliptical beat and
the whole thing culminates in
a wild Steve Vai guitar solo.
Norwegian songstress Susanne
Sundfør lends her melancholic
lilt to “For the Kids”; the simi-
larly longing, languid “Walk-
way Blues” features the vocals
of M83’s touring guitarist Jor-
dan Lawlor, and Beck appears
on the lite-funky “Time Wind”.
Even when he’s not singing,
Gonzalez’s presence is felt – for
all its stylistic deviations, Junk
is still steeped in his trademark
widescreen nostalgia and a
good dose of sadness. A Los
Angeles resident, Gonzalez has
spoken of missing his home-
land, hence the abundance of
French vocals throughout.
His disillusion with the in-
dustry in general is also palpa-
ble. An ardent advocate of the
album format, he named the
record Junk with an air of de-
spondency, as if he knows these
tracks might be dismissed by
the kids making party playl-
ists. Devoid as it is of obvious
singles, it’s hard to imagine
Junk matching Hurry Up’s
commercial success.
But as a ceaselessly intrigu-
ing, varied and often brave
follow-up to an album that, in
truth, was always going to be
hard to eclipse, it’s the kind of
uncompromising career move
that is likely to appreciate in
years to come. Seven albums
in, it’s clear Gonzalez is in it for
the long game.
KEY TRACK:
“Truth”