[one_half last=”no”]
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]IAMAMIWHOAMI
Blue
Release-Date: 10.11.2014
Label: To Whom It May Concern
Tracklist:
01. Fountain
02. Hunting For Pearls
03. Vista
04. Tap Your Glass
05. Blue Blue
06. Thin
07. Chasing Kites
08. Ripple
09. The Last Dancer
10. Shadowshow
NBHAP Rating: 3,1/5
[/one_half]
Into the blue
IAMAMIWHOAMI wouldn’t be IAMAMIWHOAMI without a special concept behind her work. This time, Jonna Lee decided to dedicate her new album to the element water – as the title Blue already predicts. Titles such as Fountain, Hunting for Pearls or Blue Blue (also their videos) reflect this topic and moreover show that Blue isn’t just a normal record, but rather a thought-out synthesis of the arts.
Visuality
Visuality has always been an important aspect of Joanne Lees alter ego. Before releasing her first record Kin, she uploaded mysterious videos on YouTube – titled with combination of numbers which, transferred to alphabet, had special meanings like for example ‘welcome home’. The videos she released prior to Blue also clearly belong together: in every single one Lee appears as a white-dressed water-angel singing and dancing close to the sea or even in there. The clips are truly stunning and fit perfectly to the music, but without them the sound unfortunately isn’t that special anymore.
Pop-safety
Blue reminds strongly artists like FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE or OH LAND. The sound itself is less innovative than the visual concept accompanying them: it’s dreamy synth-pop mixed with reserved electronics. A mixture that doesn’t really vary much in the course of the ten songs. It feels like IAMAMIWHOAMI doesn’t dare to experiment with her sound but rather wants to be safe in the land of dreampop, even more than on her debut. Without knowing the album’s videos or her distinctive and epic live performance, Blue is just another quite ordinary pop record which probably wouldn’t get much attentiveness otherwise.
IAMAMIWHOAMI’s third record ‘Blue’ is an elaborated total work of art, consisting of strong videos and harmonious pop-melodies. But unfortunately the music doesn’t work on it’s own: leaving out the visuality, the record is only another ordinary standard pop album.
—