Album Review: Seja - All Our Wires

Seja Vogel has stood as an intriguing figure in the local music scene, having cut her teeth on quirky pop doyens Sekiden and Regurgitator. As a solo artist, however, she has wavered between sanguine pop whimsy and more rustic fare, a sonic chameleon whose talent has always been evident yet an inherent restlessness never allowed her to root. Her 2010 solo debut We Have Secrets But Nobody Cares fits such a description too – captivating, filled with great tracks, but not hanging together as a whole.

The follow-up album All Our Wires runs a tangent once more, but instead of chimeric pop songs there is a robustness, an assuredness that is a welcome added bow to Vogel's string. Standout opening track Like Fireflies sets the wheel in motion – her devotional love for synth (in this instance a Korg MS-20) is forceful yet playful, underscored by Vogel's breathy vocal delivery and an assured bassline courtesy of Regurgitator's Ben Ely. It's a smart pop track devoid of pandering or cutesiness – an incredible relief, but more importantly, a mature, longstanding song. The pounding drums and soaring vocals of I Killed A Day feels like Mates Of State filtered through The Raveonettes in Shangri-La's mode; When You Said You Were Mine offers a simplistic synthetic percussion over lusher production, and Vogel's voice evokes Dido, albeit far more involving.

There are elements of Seja's musical heritage in All Our Wires, with the saccharine Casiopop of Sekiden, naïve synth playfulness of her time in Regurgitator and spaced-out dreaminess of We Have Secrets… floating to the fore. Yet it's the willingness to step outside these securities that proves the largest coup.