Album Review: Alison Wonderland -- Run

Inject yourself.

Let the sound wash through your body, through your skin and through your bloodstream. Wake up 43 minutes later invigorated; refreshed. Such is the effect that Alison Wonderland’s debut full-length record, Run, has on the unsuspecting listener. Even those who have previously had a taste of Wonderland, through her 2014 Calm Down EP or her mixtape Welcome To Wonderland, will once again involuntarily find themselves overwhelmed by this release.

An undeniable youthfulness drips from every beat, every note and every lyric that falls from the record, although Run never feels immature, brash or hurried – see Take It To Reality (ft. SAFIA) or I Want U. In moments like the intro of Cold, in fact, there’s a nod to The Chemical Brothers that belies the relatively young age of Alex Scholler, the woman behind the (excellent) moniker.

Alison Wonderland’s take on the modern electro genre throws any concept of subtlety out the window, a blessing considering the washed-out pretence with which some of her contemporaries (BANKS, Grimes, Sky Ferreira) flirt.

Instead, Wonderland draws from equal parts reggae and pure pop and scatters her influences over a beat that at times is contagious (Ignore) and at others pure fun (Back It Up). The result is a diverse record that not only continues to impress long after the first listen, but also offers the unadulterated joy of hearing one of dance music’s rising stars realise their potential.