The link to Buckley is most evident in Kimbra’s scatting and high-register vibrato, while she is at her most Björkesque on the aforementioned “Something in the Way You Are”. The influence of Jeff Buckley and Björk are obvious, both in those singers’ fluid, jazzy approach to song structure and orchestral arrangement of instruments. There is such a degree of theatricality throughout the record that the instruments serve as stage props. On the dreamy and endearing “Something in the Way You Are”, her mewling can be hard to stomach, but thankfully there is enough going on in the song to compensate. Though it’s an understatement to say her range is impressive, her screeching gets grating at times, with some of those high notes she hits making you wince a bit. Husky whisper, low moan, empathetic croon and high-end belting are all arrows in her quiver. The musical palettes often serve as playgrounds for her vocal acrobatics, her own looped voice serving as a percussion and rhythm instrument, with just such a device opening first track and lead single “Settle Down”. The centerpiece of the record, though, is Kimbra’s voice, a supple instrument in its own right, capable of changing her songs’ narrators from coy ingénue to seductive vamp, from childish to commanding. For those who suffer from (or revel in) synesthesia, the album’s flurry of melodies comes as a barrage of colors, occupying at once your ears and eyes. Furthermore, most of the 12 songs (13, if you count bonus track “Warrior”), feature multiple melodies, harmonizing in singularity or running parallel to one another, occasionally intersecting then veering off. Kimbra is clearly fascinated with sound, crafting a hodgepodge of notes that collide to make an aural collage, with the only constant uniting the songs being their shared unconventionality. Though the album overall could best be considered experimental pop, genres as diverse as soul, electro, blues, dance, industrial-lite, jazz and alt-rock are all ingredients in the stew. The most immediate impression Vows delivers is Kimbra’s remarkable skill at amalgamating a variety of styles, both vocal and musical. release, close to a year after it appeared on Oceania record store shelves. Of course, the irony here is that without that collaboration, there likely wouldn’t be quite the demand for Vows to finally see a U.S. It’s a shame that Kimbra Lee Johnson (just “Kimbra” professionally) is largely relegated stateside as “that girl in the Gotye song.” If there remains any justice in today’s music industry, the New Zealand singer’s debut album, Vows, will correct that disservice, proving Kimbra is a talent ripe enough not to need the crutch of a one-off pop duet.
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