GOOD LUCK

Album review

Debby Friday's first two EPs were fierce, commanding bursts of energy that amalgamated synth punk, electro, noise, and industrial hip-hop. The Nigeria-born, Canada-based artist has since collaborated with clipping. and premiered a trilogy of rave-inspired dystopian sci-fi works, the first of which (Link Sick) was an audio play created as her Master of Fine Arts graduate thesis project. Good Luck is her Sub Pop-issued full-length debut, and it's a refinement of her style that reveals a wider array of emotions than her previous work. She has an intensely swaggering persona, often sounding sweet, seductive, and shocking all at once. "Good Luck" opens the album with slithering bass and monstrous dubstep beats, while Friday's lyrics are both assuring and inciting. "So Hard to Tell" is a surprising (and glorious) leap into pop, with Friday's sugary lead vocals and cascading harmonies expressing tenderness as well as excitement. The thumping industrial techno of "I Got It" (featuring a bewildering guest verse by Chris Vargas of Pelada and Uñas) and the shrieking club terror of "Hot Love" are closer to the sound of Friday's EPs. "What a Man" and "Let U Down" both contain post-punk bass guitar and slow, booming drums, as well as lyrics that reveal Friday's vulnerable side. "Safe" starts out patiently, with pitched-down lyrics expressing concern for one's safety, then concludes with a burning, sexually charged rap verse. "Pluto Baby" similarly seems minimal and calmly paced, but it becomes tense with the addition of Friday's vicious, poetic lyrics and erratic, paranoid synth beams. While the energy level feels drastically different between the album's clubbier first half and its slower second, Friday's music is always dramatic, honest, and futuristic.

© Paul Simpson /TiVo