Janelle Monáe

Album Reviews:

2010: The ArchAndroid

The ArchAndroid

Now put some voodoo on it

13 minutes of establishing mood and narrative in mediocre contemporary dance and R&B styles is quite a gamble when you have one of the most exciting, most ambitious, most dizzying sci-fi art pop albums of the decade on your hand. ArchAndroid is a cornucopia of musical styles – classic soul, trad pop, vocal jazz, McCartney ditties, space rock opera, dance-funk, psychedelic rock, chamber pop extravaganza – these and more are most visible as influences. ArchAndroid is also a cornucopia of personality. Monáe keeps this brew from cooking over with sheer poise and a lush, glossy production that is a tight fit with the metropolitan concept – maybe to a fault.

Personally, I’d wish for more sweat and grit to some of the songs here (the supposed psych-freak out of “Come Alive” is a good example of being sold a bit short by its sheen), but if you have songs like the operatic, hazlewoodesque “Sir Greenwood”, the lost-on-the-dancefloor-anxiety of “Cold War” or the showstopping bubble-funk “Tight Rope”, there is really no argument not to peg this among the album of the decade-candidates. There are more highlights and the album would work better as a double album (manifesting its deserved place among sci-fi operas), but when it comes to virtuosity, boldness and ambition in a big pop context, Monáe hit it out of the park here.

The ArchAndroid

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