Buy it?: YES
At first glance, Wild Belle’s Isles is an exercise in overbearing pretense and musical retrogression; another oddly-dressed pair of white kids trying to blend mismatched influence into an album that touches – if only briefly – on a well supported perspective.
Yet, there is nothing on Isles that lacks the genuine feel of its intent. Instead the album (a product of siblings Elliot and Natalie Bergman) grasps a strong center of electro-funk amidst overtones of mid-century franco-pop, and first wave reggae.
Natalie’s vocals are sensual, subtle, and violent without sacrificing contemporary lyrical models that come across more poetic than musical. Each syllable is filled with the raw lust that filled the work of Francoise Hardy, and occupies a perfect reggae meter.
Each track shares a thread of funky, drum machine infused pop, turning emotional calls for love, and its loss, into soft tunes that dance their way through break-ups and obsessive lovers. Each perspective on the album comes from a different angle, as if the Bergman’s sought a creation which explored their own lives through caricatures of sentiment and stories.
As Natalie told NPR in a recent interview about the song When its Over, “”That’s the second song on the record that I wrote in a male’s perspective. It’s sort of a guy speaking to me and singing to me, but I’m using his voice.”
If there was ever a duo that could coyly flex 1st-wave reggae, funky pop, and the sexiness of Paris, France in the 1960s, it is Wild Belle. The album Isles is an excellent exploration of the widely enjoyable side of electro, where repetition speaks to a mood, and overdubbed instrumentation is more than filler sound.
Stream the album free today on Spotify, or purchase it on Itunes.
Chris Burns Writing 