Sky Ferreira - Night Time, My Time

In pop terms, this has been a long time coming - who'd have thought we'd get our hands on a Sky Ferreira LP before an Azealia Banks one*? As early as 2009, Ferreira was one of those names that was excitedly talked about as the next big thing in the same hushed tones as those that were met with Jessie J, Rita Ora and Marina & the Diamonds... but now, looking back on the music video for One is a surreal experience. She clearly looks disinterested, and the song itself is just a few layers above total garbage. It's not difficult to see why she wanted to break away from that.

Now, though, she's making headlines for all the wrong reasons in true popstar style. Arrested earlier this year for possession with DIIV frontman and boyfriend Zachary Cole Smith, and putting out LPs with uh, her own naked chest on the cover, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was another touted teen-sensation gone sour. In reality, Ferreira is now comfortable and her musical output has never been better; last year's Everything is Embarrassing was the perfect shake-up of any critics she had and the perfect, gorgeous chillwave-pop climax to a promising EP. On Night Time, My Time, although she's not got Dev Hynes' Midas touch to call upon, but working with Ariel Rechtshaid again cannot be a bad thing given his track record this year.

The deviation from pop isn't quite as pronounced as you might think: opener 'Boys' is a pretty coy, tongue-in-cheek series of reflections on the opposite gender set to a searing kind of Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound with a sweet plot twist (spoiler: she found a nice one!), whilst 'Ain't Your Right' and '24 Hours' are storming choruses that owe more thanks to the inspiration of Cyndi Lauper than, say, Hole. Her breathless repetition is a great strength here, letting each track become its own hairbrush moment - and much of the album calls upon personal, revelatory drama. The aim might not have been to let the listener break down a little with the artist, but isn't that usually what all the best pop music does? The spilling-over rage of 'Nobody Asked Me (If I Was Okay)' has a rather unpolished vocal and - to me anyway - a not very concealed stab at her former labels ("Shakin' your head while I try to explain/ You say you don't want to hear me complain/ Just tryna get my point across/ You don't seem to care if I'm feeling lost") behind the face-value love troubles.

She's quite forthright about those troubles, too: 'I Blame Myself', a soft and deceptively pretty electropop piece, finds Ferreira lashing out at false friends and - obviously - herself ("You think you know me so well", she spits, doing an oddly canny Kelly Clarkson impression), whilst on 'I Will' she's playing the don't fuck with me card ("When it's with me you're messing, I'm gonna teach you a lesson") as a Joy Divisionesque bassline hums away and lets those drums thump away like a persistent rebellious sulk. On that note, many of the influences here are very not pop: single 'You're Not the One' makes brilliant use of a kind of psychedelic, kind of gothic riff, whilst there're noise pop elements to 'Heavy Metal Heart' that - if not her strongest suit - is another convincing and potential guise for her to explore in the future.

Some experiments of course don't pay off but they can be forgiven: the track 'Omanko' feels a little bit like it's trying too hard to shock (the title is the Japanese for 'pussy') but, musically, stands out as the LP's rockiest moment. There's only really one track I can't enjoy in any mood and that's 'Kristine', thanks to its awkward melody (there're, as expected, many online who're citing it as fresh and exciting, but to me it's just like listening to someone punch a keyboard for 3 minutes). Lyrically, too, she's sometimes more than a little stunted (take 'Nobody Asked Me...', which begins with a teenage sigh of "Never thought I'd have a moment like this/ all I wanna feel is your kiss"). These are all very small complaints though, when distracted with stunning melancholy-pop hits like 'Love in Stereo' which, thanks to the crowdnoise at the beginning, instantly hits me as one of those "I've made it but I feel like shit" moments like Lupe Fiasco's Superstar.

 The album works on two levels: one in that it makes me excited about someone who I once wrote off as a generic pop non-entity, and that's pretty rare, and another in that virtually every track here is highly listenable and likely to be on repeat for some time to come. It's quite a dark, and sometimes uncomfortable listen but the payoff is great.

Rating: 8.5/10
Highlights: I Blame Myself; 24 Hours; You're Not the One; Love in Stereo; Boys
Avoid: Kristine

Artwork Watch: I'm quite curious as to whether or not Blogger will keep this up...
For fans of: Charli XCX; Lana del Rey; I Blame Coco
Up next: M.I.A.   
*Everyone, because Azealia Banks will never get a label dumb enough to waste money on one.