Joy Or: A Brief Review Of The New Album From Olivia Neutron-John (Anna Nasty From Chain And The Gang)

Owing far more to, say, The Normal and early Cabaret Voltaire than it does to stuff like Goldfrapp, for example, the music of Olivia Neutron-John is stark, yet thrilling, synth-pop. Anna Nasty (Chain and The Gang) uses their Olivia Neutron-John persona to create sounds that are nearly nightmarish in their simplicity, the sleek patches in the tunes just brief reprieves from the void. The new record, conveniently titled Olivia Neutron-John, is out today on Sister Polygon Records, and it's brilliantly austere, the pieces of instrumentation used here conveying nearly as much as what's been left off.

"16 Beat" is the sound of Kraftwerk updated with flashes of more emotional vocals, while lead single "March" is a precisely-pitched bit of electro-pop. The beguiling "Beguine" sees the hook carried by a popping and supremely-supple bass-line, even as Nasty's vocals yearn for the sun. It's a track that, oddly, recalls earlier sides by both Siouxsie and Jarboe, with Olivia Neutron-John wisely jettisoning any single thing that could weigh the composition down. This is, like many of the tracks here on Olivia Neutron-John if not minimalist rock, at least proto-New Wave, the sort of thing one imagines early pioneers of the form making back in the 1970's. And to stress the icy deliberateness that's here on Olivia Neutron-John is not to deny how clearly the emotions are conveyed, especially on the closer "Joy Or...", a number that echoes Joy Division if not in sound, at least in intent.

Olivia Neutron-John is out today via Sister Polygon Records.

More details on Olivia Neutron-John via the official website, or the official Facebook page.

[Photo: Jen Dessinger]