I Blame Coco
An all-new breed of stunning synth pop thoroughbred, Coco Sumner might have gigantic choruses and a host of eighties influenced keyboard sounds at her fingertips, but there’s buckets of honest grit and acres of earnest emotion under her music’s layers of silky, sonic glamour.
Referencing the Human League, Kraftwerk, Kate Bush and the Psychedelic Furs as well as one of her contemporary favourites, The Killers: to Coco – born in 1991 - these vintage sounds were both alien and transgressive. The thought of that kind of music humming from the generic programming of popular radio excited her. Her producers – Robyn collaborator Klas Ahlund and Dan Foat, who is half of uber-hip DJ outfit Wild Geese - agreed.
Opening with one of this summer’s finest singles ‘Selfmachine’ - a skyscraping dystopian disco anthem and dose of heartfelt, creative electro pop at its very best - the album starts as it means to go on: Epic, impressive and packed full of undeniable hooks.
The catchy chorus of ‘Playwrite Fate’ owes as much to ABBA as it does to the likes of Yazoo while the Bladerunner ballad ‘It’s About to Get Worse’ is a cleverly constructed tear-jerker almost as deep, dark and emotive as ‘Summer Rain’.
At once retro and totally modern, the soaring strains of ‘Turn Your Back On Love’ would fit just as perfectly over the end credits of a teen-dream John Hughes movie as they would bounding along on the Twilight soundtrack.
Other highlights include the electro-punk fuzz of Coco’s Robyn featuring first single ‘Ceasar’ and pumping piano house track and forthcoming single ‘Quicker’. Also included is Coco’s version of St Etienne’s cover of Neil Young’s ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’.
When it came to naming the album, Coco had the title from the start. Like Britain’s best new pop star - a contradictory mix of deep insecurities and special musical dexterity - it is open to more than one interpretation.
“A constant is something that will always be there, that won’t ever end. It’s also aclock that you put into something and after a number of steps it explodes.”
Throughout the year Coco has built up a head of steam on the live circuit andhas played a host of festivals across the UK and Europe over the summer, including Glastonbury, Wireless, Latitude, Secret Garden Party and Bestival.