U.S Girls - Half Free
8/10
Toronto based artist Meghan Remy mines a rich seam of 20th century disco, soul and pop to plunder, polish and perfect the samples, beats and loops used as the starting point for this, her album debut for 4AD Records. Overlaying these with her idiosyncratic vocal style, which lies somewhere between Ronnie Spector and Tune-Yards, and production assistance from husband Slim Twig and previous collaborator Onakabazien, and you have Half Free. Just as her moniker U.S.Girls is an ironic take on her brand of cultural feminism, Half Free sets out to expose the knife-edge aftermath and existence created by events of gender inequality and abuse of women for whom anguish and antipathy can still remain. But do not dismiss this album as some kind of misandristic rant. Sonically it creates an intriguing and varied landscape, from 60s 'wall of sound' and 'dub' in the single Damn That Valley (which explores the exasperation of a US war widow) to Moroder synth beats in Woman's Work (languishing on the enforced anxieties of maintaining beauty into old age).
A focused and accessible work that intelligently explores raw emotion with a fiery narrative. Signing to 4AD may be her best move yet.
8/10
