The first thing that struck me was the sound of the record was a bit more left-of-field than usual, it’s more spontaneous than most of Harkin’s post-punk contemporaries and more rockist in attitude than most indie pop.
It really seemed like a first-idea-best-idea record, which might have been explained by Harkin’s press releases’ own admission that this record was crafted on the road and produced over three time zones! (Sorry, I just had to put it in there, the copy of the press release really wanted me to notice lol)
Anyway, first-idea-best-idea…
Yeah, it works musically, it does seem like a jam but Harkin’s toplining needs work. The instrumental leaves her room to dance on the pulsing beat and high tension melodic components but Harkin the lyricist just seemed content to do the bare minimum over it, which is disappointing 🙁