Artist: I Blame Coco
Album: The Constant
We seem to have a built-in resistance to nepotism, a frustration born from jealousy of the success of someone else that has a seeming advantage in whatever their given vocation is. I'm certainly guilty of this, sure... but doesn't talent need to ultimately trump all? I'm sort of amazed, and a touch disgusted, by the meteoric rise if new child stars Jaden and Willow Smith, spawn of Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith... so young and seemingly pushed into the biz by their already successful parents. And yet... from the little I've seen of these kids, natural talent does exists.
So it comes with some amusement to me that I've been enjoying the new wave/pop-alternative album by "band" I Blame Coco, only to find out that the band is really twenty year-old Eliot Paulina Sumner, also known as just Coco, also known as the daughter of Trudy Styler and Sting. How about that.
Now I haven't heard any of I Blame Coco's music on the radio, certainly not getting pimped out and marketed the way the Smith kids are, and Sumner is working with some interesting people on her debut record "The Constant," so maybe she's got the chops herself to make it on her own. Counting the open doors not withstanding, "The Constant" is a pretty well put-together record, I really dig her vocals (which are reminiscent of Catatonia's Cerys Matthews) and am loving the single "In Spirit Golden." So I'm forgetting about the lineage... and focusing on the tunes.
Coco began writing music at the age of fifteen, and got a record deal with Island Records at seventeen. Three years later comes "The Constant," which is scheduled for release early next month. She's recorded the record in Sweden partly with producer Klas Ahlund, of Teddybears fame as well as his work producing hits for Robyn, who incidentally contributes vocals on I Blame Coco's very first single "Caesar," which is included on "The Constant." The album is a mix of upbeat new wave/electropop but does have a slight alternative rock edge. In some ways, the only slight use of electronics and such production gives the album a bit more weight.
First track "Selfmachine" kicks things off with a punch, and "Quicker" marries an early 90's house sound with the aforementioned Catatonia's pop-rock. Interesting. I also like "Please Rewind" and the Cars-esque 80's rock of "Turn Your Back on Love." While it certainly doesn't sound bad... there is an odd cover of Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" that would sound a bit more exciting if I didn't know that it was really just a rip-off of the Saint Etienne version of the song.
I like this record.
Enjoy.
In Spirit Golden
Caesar
Selfmachine
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