Caiti BakerCaiti Baker flips between catchy pop, dance and slower blues with this accomplished debut.
Highlights include her smooth voice mixed with just the right amount of hook on Could It Be Nerves, while unexpected elements like country-styled harmonica ring in Over The Horizon. Praise be for a diversity of style and influence (it seems exploring sounds all in one place is rare these days). A clear Motown-era girl group groove starts off Rough Old Town, with a little Amy Winehouse grunt to boot. Not as gritty (or tortured, hopefully), but with a similar sass and knowing ownership.
Midway through the tone changes, a semi-operatic break takes the bridge before coming back to familiar territory - it's completely unexpected and lots of fun. There's plenty that's fresh about this album (including openers Believer and I Won't Sleep), but the fusion with older sounds creates a seductive mix that's hard to deny. The production on Dreamers seems deliberately lo-fi, but in an interesting aesthetic way rather than the full hipster catastrophe. Similarly I Got That gently plays with dance conventions - staying grounded but also drawing out key loop with masterful poise. The genre bending continues to the end, with sly closer, Wolf. Keep your ear to the ground - Caiti Baker is damn promising.
