ALBUM REVIEW : INDIANA
ARTIST : NO ROMEO
GENRE : POP
DATE RELEASED : 2015
The debut album of this English singer started out very good with its first song “Never Born.” It is like listening to Lana del Rey melody with Dolores O Riordan and Diana Krall vocals and Bjork like music; dreamy, trippy, and hypnotic. Thus, it showed a lot of promise. Then, you heard “Solo Dancing” which further cemented your suspicion that this will end up a very good album. The song is somewhat very William Orbit production wise but with 90’s retro beat.
However, the album somehow stopped or regressed to just being nice the moment you reach the third song “Play Dead.” It tried to be Lana del Rey in terms of music and vocal performance and she begun to sound boring at this point. “Heart on Fire” started like a Sade or Erykka Badduh song until you realize what the song is all about. It lacks the depth lyrically when compared to songs of those two singers. What saves the song from disaster is dance elements were infused to complement the cliché lyrics.
There are charming songs like “New Heart” which is very The Cranberries at its heydays. However, the songwriter might be in creative lull as there are several repetitions of verses like “I want to burn you new heart” which is sung for countless times in the song. “No Romeo” is women empowerment song that says “who needs a man” when all you get from guys are lies and lies.
Generally, the album was all about frustrations about love and relationships. I say that the album is not cohesive even though it centers on one context. It is not cohesive in the sense that Indiana is drowned with songs and style that has already done before. With that I give this record 2.5 stars out of 5 stars rating scheme.
Ratings Description:
1 star = Ignore it
2 stars= risk it
3 stars = borrow or buy it
4 stars = buy it and keep it
5 = buy, keep, and treasure it
Alden's Album Review 