Jessy
Lanza: Oh No (Hyperdub)

Jessy
Lanza’s second full-length album delivers on the promise of her debut
and also incorporates contemporary flirtations with footwork,
electro, and bass music. Her high, light vocal is distinct and often
featured in ways that emphasize these qualities. “VV Violence” is
a case in point, with its almost bratty refrain punctuated by a
defiant, yippy “NO!” Lanza and her collaborator, Junior Boys
vocalist and producer Jeremy Greenspan, are smart to keep many of Oh
No’s tracks short and sweet, its ten tracks totalling 40 minutes.
(Other pop behemoths really should take note of the virtues of a
tight and concise 10-track album, cough cough Madonna cough cough
Lady Gaga, et. al…)

Jessy Lanza: Oh No (HDBLP030) by Jessy Lanza

Oh No seems to have an appreciation for 80s pop
more overtly than the spacious bass music underpinnings of Pull My
Hair Back, with even a more familiar sounding track like “I Talk
BB” having a mid-80s reverberation about it (traces of Billy Idol’s
“Eyes Without a Face”). The album also seems to showcase Lanza’s
levity and spirit, and I like also that some of the
more minimal cuts like “Going Somewhere” feel accessible despite
their weird arrangements, a healthy complement to the more obvious
pop and club leanings of other cuts like “VV Violence” or “It
Means I Love You.” It’s an interesting oscillation between fidgety,
uptempo numbers and more languid, seductive grooves, exploring the
contrast more obviously than Take My Hair Back and with some truly
great results in the process.

Buy it: Bandcamp