***ALBUM OF THE MONTH | November 2020***
Kylie Minogue
DISCO
Darenote/BMG
Listen Below
For all of her talents and achievements, Kylie Minogue’s legacy is often reduced to one limited description: dance-pop. It isn’t an entirely inaccurate summation of her sonic profile, to a degree; she utilized the genre to catalyze her first substantive reinvention thirty years ago with her third album, Rhythm of Love (1990).
However, Minogue refused to idle too long in one place. With each subsequent studio set, Minogue expanded her sound—all the while dance-pop remained an artistic touchstone to use when she saw fit.
Her most recent album, Golden (2018), marked an exciting chapter in her canon as she forged ahead with a country-inflected, guitar-pop record to demonstrate that there were no stylistic boundaries she could not cross. The collection enjoyed dual commercial and critical triumph—it also signposted Minogue’s creative renascence. Still, a fickle pocket of pundits and fans viewed Golden as an aberration because it eschewed dance-pop.
As 2019 ended, Minogue announced that DISCO—her fifteenth long player—was underway. Because its title supposedly left little to the imagination, that mentioned crowd felt a victory had been won—but it was only ever a “battle” in their minds. Every record drafted post-Rhythm of Love honored whichever form Minogue’s muse might have taken on during the genesis of a new project.
The same is true of DISCO, an LP that is less of a reclamation versus an intentional return to familiar ground in service to said muse. That specificity informs who Minogue enlists to assist her with the smithing of DISCO and co-writing its songs; a minor sampling of old friends and recent colleagues featured in the liner notes include Richard Stannard, Teemu Brunila, Sky Adams, Troy Miller, Ash Howes, Maegan Cottone and Daniel Shah. With respect to the album’s collaborative spirit, it is Minogue that is the central force behind the entirety of DISCO’s direction—her pen leads on all twelve of its sides.
Even when the track count expands upward to sixteen on the deluxe edition with “Till You Love Somebody,” “Fine Wine,” “Hey Lonely” and “Spotlight,” Minogue doesn’t relinquish her songwriting control. Stellar pieces such as “Say Something,” “Celebrate You” and “Hey Lonely” mark a continuance of the introspectiveness that suffused Golden, but, overall, DISCO is a polite pivot toward escapism.
Quintessential pop music subjects—nighttime pleasures (“Miss a Thing”), love gained, lost and found (“Real Groove”), the veneration of the disc jockey (“Where Does the DJ Go?”)—are all on deck here; Minogue renews them with heart and an experienced vocal delivery.
Regarding the music behind the lyrics, the stratum of influences employed on DISCO are impeccable. On “Magic,” Minogue reaches back to the burgeoning peak of the disco era—circa 1975—to echo The Silver Convention’s smash “Fly, Robin, Fly” before she jumps ahead to 1985 to revel in the post-disco synth-funk of Zapp’s “Computer Love” on “Dance Floor Darling.” The referential breadth in between these two examples on DISCO is threaded with further vintage elements—dance-oriented R&B, electronic textures, general clubland tonalities—sure to excite both the hardcore audiophile and the casual listener.
Undoubtedly comparisons will be drawn between DISCO and Light Years (2000), Minogue’s seventh album where she last vended in this sort of wide-ranging, retro classicism at play on her current offering. Although DISCO does not approximate the compositional scope of Light Years, it is just as engaging as that record in that it showcases Minogue’s source synthetization to make her own unique sonic imprint. She flits from a sprightly bass-guitar exercise, to old school disco/nu-disco compositing, around to a layered, four-on-the-floor vibe via “Monday Blues,” “I Love It” and “Unstoppable” respectively.
Each of these selections is evidence of Minogue’s own musical strain actioned within the larger contemporary pop genre; her impact—conscious or unconscious—on the latest efforts from Dua Lipa, Carly Rae Jepsen, Lady Gaga and Jessie Ware is readily apparent.
At one point, it was easy to put Minogue in the “don’t bore us, get to the chorus” box when she was still under the auspices of Stock-Aitken-Waterman at the outset of her career. Decades removed from that prefabricated incarnation, DISCO is the product of a woman keenly aware of her strengths, but not constrained by them. Minogue’s accessibility belies an innovative, eclectic mind capable of challenging and entertaining audiences by whichever medium she so chooses. No one knows what Minogue may do next, but as it stands, we can all joyously journey around the mirrorball with her for the time being with DISCO.
Notable Tracks: “Celebrate You” | “I Love It” | “Monday Blues” | “Say Something”
Quentin Harrison recently published Record Redux: Kylie Minogue, the fifth book in his Record Redux series. The ambitious project traces the rise of the Australian pop vocalist from soap actress star to international pop powerhouse by examining every single and studio album in her repertoire. Record Redux: Kylie Minogue follows previous entries from the Atlanta, Georgia based author centered on Carly Simon, Donna Summer and Madonna. Order Record Redux: Kylie Minogue here (digital) and here (physical). An overhauled version of his first book Record Redux: Spice Girls will be available in early January 2021.
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