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Review Summary: In Response to Will Robinson Sky Ferreira has made quite a name for herself in the indie world. Her accessible mix of indie rock sensibilities and Madonna-esque synthpop, showcased in her hit single “Everything Is Embarrassing” and the accompanying music video, caters to a broad audience of Gen X’ers longing for the music of their childhoods and alternative-raised Millennials just now discovering the decade of “greed is good”.
But for all the demographic bullet points Ms. Ferreira hits, she has yet to make a sound that does not ape from all-too-common styles of the last 20-30 years. Case in point: her newest album, Night Time, My Time, incorporates sounds and textures that have become de rigeur in the music world ever since The Strokes changed the face of the industry with Is This It. Ferreira seems to draw her major influences from the likes of Sleigh Bells, with slightly industrial beats backing noisy guitars and poppy female vocals, and from Blondie, with her punky bad-girl attitude and new wave leanings. The fact is, Ferreira isn't as innovative or fun as either of those artists.
Lyrically, Ferreira has her moments, which mostly come early in the record. On “Boys”, she provides hope for herself and the listener when moving past a broken relationship (“You put my faith back in boys”), and periods of self-reflection certainly don’t hurt matters (“I Blame Myself”), but then there are Katy-Perry-esque clunkers like “Heavy Metal Heart” (“You make my heavy metal heart beat, beat, ooh”). Eventually, as the record wears on, the lyrics eventually fade into the din of the music, making it hard to care about anything insightful Ferreira may have to say (hint: she doesn’t).
The production also doesn’t do Night Time, My Time any favors, which is full of loud distortion and generally unpleasant tones, drowning out any layers that may have existed in the studio (the Loudness War strikes again). Producer Ariel Rechtshaid is an indie stalwart, having produced recent records by Vampire Weekend and Haim, but even he can’t save the blandness that is Ferreira’s vision.
Besides a few noteworthy tunes and a provocative album cover shot by film director Gaspar Noé (Irreversible, Enter the Void), Night Time, My Time will most likely be a waste of your time.
| other reviews of this album |
Pavelboca (3)
Sky Ferreira's debut is a highly listenable but ultimately vapid exercise in bombastic pop....
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Originally written for bsupulse.com
This is my first review, but you don't have to be nice. Pick me apart, shit all over me, throw me in the dumpster, I don't
care, just point out what needs to be better and I'll do it.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Sweet, this means I'm important! Will read. First thing, though: drop the :P in your summary. Doesn't exactly look nice
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Good review, I pos'd. The one thing I disagree with is excessive hiding behind name- and genre-dropping. In five short paragraphs you reference seven or eight bands and about as many genres while not really describing specific sounds as much as the best Sput reviewers (not including me of course) can do. For example:
The sound of the record is actually closer to a Sleigh Bells-Blondie-P!nk hybrid, except that Ferreira isn’t as innovative or fun as any of those artists (and P!nk isn’t even that great).
Like, what does this mean? I have no idea what a hybrid of these three would sound like, and some description beyond name-dropping would be nice.
That said, this is one of the strongest first reviews I've seen. Your syntax is excellent, your review is coherent, and it's clear you've had experience writing before.
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Haha, I'm gonna make an "in response to Ryan Hoffman" review now :P
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Man I wish my first review was this good. Pos'd.
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"Sweet, this means I'm important!" LOL
"drop the :P in your summary" Done and done. It was a juvenile last addition to the piece, and I regret it. Sorry for any hurt feelings, Bro...step.
"Like, what does this mean? I have no idea what a hybrid of these three would sound like, and some description beyond name-dropping would be nice."
Made changes to descriptions, got rid of genre and too much band dropping, hope u like!
"Haha, I'm gonna make an "in response to Ryan Hoffman" review now :P"
DO IT. WOULD READ
"That said, this is one of the strongest first reviews I've seen. Your syntax is excellent, your review is coherent, and it's clear you've had experience writing before." "Man I wish my first review was this good."
Thanks, you guys! :') I have been writing for quite a while, so I kind of cheated the system in terms of "first reviewing". Don't tell anyone :x
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
For what it's worth, I would say this is the second best review for this album on the site.
;)
In all seriousness, great review.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Accidental double post
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LOL
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