As her work has grown, Welsh auteur
Cate Le Bon's abstract inclinations have crept more and more into the forefront. Experimental moves that once only surfaced in her
Drinks side project or in production for other artists crested in the insular, prismatic songwriting of her excellent 2019 solo effort
Reward, and sixth album
Pompeii applies that same risk-taking mind set to songs that are more colorful and more bizarre. There's a murkier quality to
Pompeii than
Le Bon's work usually takes, with layers of '80s synth tones, saxophone, occasional bursts of prickly guitar, and slippery basslines mixed into dense blocks of sound. The foggy production is a huge shift from the comparatively stark and direct sounds on earlier albums and gives the woozy funk-pop of standout tracks "French Boys" and "Running Away" a plastic sheen similar to
Station to Station-era
Bowie and hints of City pop mellowness. Bass takes on new prominence here, with
Le Bon writing a good portion of the album on bass guitar. This makes the oozy grooves that only sometimes came through in previous work the central focus of many tracks. Songs like "Cry Me Old Trouble" and "Harbour" are built on fluid, busy bass playing, with waves of percussion and muddy synths vibrating outward from the steady rhythm section. While the album was created in isolation due to COVID-19 restrictions, it feels far less lonely than the often somber
Reward, with
Le Bon instead bending her distinctive vocals and oblique hooks into gregarious and celebratory expressions. The conflicting colors of
Pompeii are relaxed and flowing, strung together with extra reverb and pleasantly crowded arrangements. All nine songs blend into a unified whole, replacing precision and detail-centric immediacy with an intriguing smear of sounds. The dense and shrouded nature of this album means you sometimes have to wait for the clouds to clear before certain lines resonate or choruses grab you, but once they do, they don't let go. ~ Fred Thomas
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