Kenna - Make Sure They See My Face (Album)
This is more of the electro/new wave sound that is dominating the speakers of the trendy metropolitan ones among us, but with an urban twist and beats fatter than a 2008 Australian. The beats are courtesy of super producers The Neptunes and their production is what makes this cd standout amongst the masses that are like it at the moment. Ethiopian born Kenna’s voice is also a strong point of the 12 tracker and doesn’t get lost in the tidal wave of heavy production. It in fact rides this tidal wave and becomes the dominant part of it in most cases.
The album is a mixture of pill popping tracks for the club kids and more stripped back reflective tracks (stripped back as far as a Neptunes production goes anyway). Out of Control sounds like a Presets/Dukes of Windsor hybrid on steroids and concrete, Sun Red, Sky Blue has Ibiza summer party anthem stamped all over it and opening track Daylight is a trance journey for smacked out euphoric synth lovers. Static is a moment of reflection and one to get your girlfriend in the mood with. It wouldn’t be out of place on Coldplay’s Parachutes (when they were good) with its yearning piano line backed by some appealing drum work to convey the emotion of Kenna’s love plight. The bonus track, Rock Away Life, is actually a bonus if you can stop thinking about the fact that the bass line in the verse sounds exactly like the bass line from Savage Garden’s To the Moon and Back. Ok, maybe it isn’t such a bonus then.
This LP has some definite winners on it but almost misses too much. Almost. There are some tracks which are downright tedious but the songs which are good are ones which are worth putting on repeat. Some people will love the cd, others will stick to the Presets and Cut Copy, it has a distinct American sound to it but there isn’t much like this coming out of there (that’s getting airplay in Australia), so it is a refreshing Neptunes inspired perspective on the genre.
