I make it a rule to only write about stuff that I can get at least a little bit enthusiastic about. And, by extension, that means that sometimes if it's something I really like, I tend to gush, or write too much. I'm going to try not to do that here because I think my enthusiasm for the new Carla J. Easton record, Weirdo, might ring as similar to that that I've shown for other records this year. But this Olive Grove Records release is so wildly inventive that it really deserves as much attention as writers like me can muster. And a lot more.
The former TeenCanteen singer has put out solo material before but really nothing like Weirdo. Opener "Get Lost" marries the sort of bright synth-y sheen we heard on an old O.M.D. side with a hook like something from a Carly Rae Jepsen record. And while that one, and "Heart So Hard" seem to lean heavily on the pop side of the whole indie-pop formula, "Spun Out" pushes things even further out. Dense, layered, and yet simultaneously emotive, Easton uses this number and a few others here to offer up something that takes the familiar and does something entirely new with it. I've heard the pieces here a million times, but never quite like this, if that makes any sense.
The title cut here welds a vocal-line right out of an old Altered Images single with a soaring hook that's flat-out euphoric. There's assistance here from Stina Tweeddale of Honeyblood and the mad rush of pop joy in this one feels like something from that band, but without such loud guitars. Elsewhere, "Over You" is electro-pop, the beats here pounding the hook into place behind Easton's breathy delivery, while "Signing It in Blood" slows things down to allow a ballad to arrive. This is big stuff, part-power ballad even, but it's idiosyncratic too. For every moment on Weirdo that edges so close to what we'd still call the mainstream, Carla Easton gleefully up-ends our expectations by a turn of phrase, a layer of effects, or a smartly crazy wash of keyboards and samples. It's all heady stuff, frankly, and one has to reach back decades to that Kylie collaboration with the Manics to find something that straddles the pop and indie forms with such clever deftness. Thankfully, Easton imbues this all with enough heart that this remains a delight for a listener.
Weirdo is out on Friday via Olive Grove Records.
More details on Carla J. Easton via the official website.
[Photo: Olive Grove Records]