New Zealander/Ghanaian/Brit Leila Adu’s Ode to the Unknown Factory Worker is certainly not your average mainstream pop album. Full of dissonance with thin vocals, stifling song breaks, tempo changes and devoid of a beat on many tracks…
New Zealander/Ghanaian/Brit Leila Adu’s Ode to the Unknown Factory Worker is certainly not your average mainstream pop album. Full of dissonance with thin vocals, stifling song breaks, tempo changes and devoid of a beat on many tracks.
It’s hard to call this an art-album or experimental either, the songs aren’t pushing any boundaries. Other contemporary artists – Sufjan Stevens, Bjork for example – have utilised discordance and simplicity to create challenging and great music. Unfortunately, not Adu in this case. So, where does that leave this new album released on January 17th?
Ode to the Unknown Factory Worker has been described as ‘more stripped down’, it could also be described as bereft of complexity. The ‘naked arrangements’ and jarring chord changes mean that most songs become very stilted and rather one diminutional. I can imagine myself hearing this in a West London pub’s Open Mic Night, on a Wednesday. This is not an album you can kick back and enjoy, each song demands effort and attention to get through.
Below portrait of Leila Adu by Ian Bines from her website www.leilaadu.com
Intro image above by Leon Dale.
Lyrically, Adu is jumping out into the void but tends to land somewhere short of poetic. Though her words are neither boring nor expected, they just have to work too hard and tend to over-reach at times in order to rhyme or jam in syllables.
Matrian Raft, the first single off the album, gives a fairly accurate taste of this album. There are no harmonies, just a thin, solitary vocal.
The redeeming moment for this album comes in it’s middle: Fortuna is the standout track and the most enticing song; lyrically more polished, with a distinct rhythm, pacing, and a stronger melody – I would prefer the whole album to have at least matched degree of musicianship. 3/10
By Miles Langley 20 January 2011.
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