It sounds great on paper, doesn’t it? Eighteen-year-old soul minx Gabriella Cilmi returns (trouserless now that she’s legal) with an experimental second album steeped in ‘70s disco grooves and Bee Gees-brand rhythms. The only problem is that a lot of unnecessary futuristic hooey makes you think of the start of The Jetsons.
Cilmi blasts off with a healthy dash of Kate Bush quirk on ‘Love Me Cos’ and ‘Superhot’, the latter borrowing considerably from Donna Summer’s euphoric ‘I Feel Love’. In similar vein, ‘Hearts Don’t Lie’ has some clangy ‘80s Diana Ross appeal while the Flashdance-esque ‘What If You Knew’ is positively made for the gym, or at least some kind of Outer Space gym with go-go dancers in SK-1 helmets.
If that extravagant analogy hasn’t already tipped you off, there’s just far too much of everything going on here. Cilmi’s phenomenal voice is all but lost in the spacey layers and shooting electronics. Even if you do manage to sift out her vocal for a few minutes, it’s more baby Anastacia than baby Sister Sledge. The particularly grating ‘Defender’ is squeaked out at the tippy top of her range, while the nightmarish riffs on ‘Boys’ would even make high-pitched labelmate Mika howl.
Sometimes it almost works: the undeniably hooky ‘Hearts Don’t Lie’ and ‘Superhot’ could happily play along with the likes of Gloria Gaynor or Chic on any good disco dancefloor. Gospel-tinged ‘Let Me Know’ calls to mind the vintage swagger of ‘Sweet About Me’, only it’s been smothered with distracting bleeps and whirls, much like the rest of the record. It’s like she’s trying for Cyndi Lauper attitude, but all I’m getting is Olivia Newton John on the Xanadu soundtrack.