Albums of the week (Feb 13-19)

The latest album releases reviewed by the Evening Standard's music critics
Rule breaker: Charli XCX
Evening Standard Critics13 February 2015

Pop

Charli XCX

Sucker

(Asylum)

★★★★

From the Hertfordshire badlands, the hardworking former Charlotte Aitchison finds herself a transatlantic star. Her second album — already in the US top 30 — finds the rave-scene graduate collaborating with fellow pop poppet Rita Ora and more unlikely bedfellows Weezer and Vampire Weekend. She’s no hipster, though. On the contrary, she’s almost as cartoonish as Katy Perry and she’s made a super-loud, super-direct pop record. There may be something creepy about a 22-year-old woman singing “I don’t want to go to school/I just want to break the rules” on Break the Rules but the possibly satirical Gold Coins finds her ready to “escape into the sky in my own private jet”. Right now she looks unstoppable.

John Aizlewood

Imagine Dragons

Smoke + Mirrors

(Polydor)

★★★

The return of this mega-selling Las Vegas band with a second album is a big deal, in the US especially, where they just took over an entire ad break during the Grammys to perform their new single, Shots. Their 2012 single Radioactive united rock and electronica and sold nine million copies over there. Here they continue to straddle those two worlds, sounding too heavy-handed when they channel Depeche Mode on Gold and attempt to add world music to the mix on Friction. However, when they accept their pop appeal, as on the simpler, hugely catchy Polaroid, and the hip hop beats and flutes of Hopeless Opus, it feels great to have them back.

David Smyth

José González

Vestiges & Claws

(Peacefrog)

★★★★

It may seem like Gothenburg’s José González has been silent since his 2003 debut album went platinum here but he’s actually been louder. There have been two less successful albums with a full band, Junip, so now he’s back to acoustic loneliness. The plucked intricacies of his solo material suit his gentle voice best, especially on the simple groove of Stories We Build, Stories We Tell. LeafOff/The Cave picks up the pace a little, preventing the songs from drifting off prettily. He may never again match the attention that came his way after soundtracking that Sony advert with the bouncing balls but he now has another collection of equally beautiful songs that are fine company on a quiet night.

DS

OK Go

Hungry Ghosts

(Paracadute/BMG)

★★

Tech -savvy and unashamedly nerdy, OK Go are a band who could have been an internet start-up. Guitarist and programmer Andy Ross has a sideline in time-wasting apps, their recent video was filmed by a drone in Japan and singer Damian Kulash persuaded a biochemist to encode this fourth album from digital to DNA (no one knows why). Yet the LA group’s brave new world sounds surprisingly familiar. The Writing’s on the Wall is knock-off New Order, while Obsession borrows Daft Punk’s electronic flourishes. In fact, much of their power-pop has been garnished with a relentlessly bleepy tone that’s as irksome as a fellow Tube passenger jabbing at Candy Crush Saga on full volume. OK Go have plenty of tunes but no fresh ideas.

Andre Paine

Jazz

Verneri Pohjola

Bullhorn

(Edition Records)

★★★★

The third album from leading Helsinki-based composer, bandleader and trumpet player Verneri Pohjola is the one that cements his move from longtime rising star to international jazz heavyweight. Having spent more than 20 years developing a signature sound that combines intimacy and lyricism with original compositions and raw, in-the-moment energy, Pohjola has never been more at ease. A band of collaborators and friends, including pianist Aki Rissanen, bassist Antti Lötjönen and drummer Teppo Mäkynen, lend bold contrasts to tracks such as opener Another Day, which sees Pohjola’s trumpet drifting with all the serenity and space that has come to characterise Nordic jazz while still cleverly side-stepping its clichés. Subtle nods to influences including Miles Davis and Gil Evans are peppered throughout; arrangements are innovative and accessible. At nearly eight minutes long, closing track End Is Nigh is a cinematic triumph that builds, fades and lingers.

Jane Cornwell

World

Yiddish Twist Orchestra

Let’s

(YTO Records)

★★★★

The Yiddish Twist Orchestra is a London-based big band reinventing the sound of the Jewish Twist, or der shvitz. The joke is that after causing a sensation in London’s east end, der shvitz crossed the Atlantic to become the Twist. And maybe it’s no joke. The eight-piece band features piano and Hammond organ, clarinet and horn section. The vocals are taken by larger-than-life Natty Bo (of Ska Cubano) and liberally sprinkled with Yiddish humour. There are classics such as Bei Mir Bistu Shein, but more intriguing are the Yiddish Caribbean numbers, such as Beigels.

Simon Broughton

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