Dancing About Architecture reviews Garden– Kylie Spence

It says something about this young artist that last time I wrote about her I name checked Lisa Hannigan and this time out I find hints of Hope Sandoval’s sultry blends of innocence and worldliness hiding amongst her more contemporary sounds. In fact take the dance beat out and you would find yourself with a song that wouldn’t be that out of place amongst Mazzy Star’s impressive 90’s canon. But that was then, that was alt-rock – this is now, this is pop: its funny where generic boundaries sometimes collide isn’t it?

Yes, this is pop, eminently danceable pop at that but it is also cleverer than most of its current competitors. It isn’t just Kylie’s voice which seems to both be totally in keeping with current fashion and bucking trends at the same time…how does she even do that…it’s also the dreamlike quality of the music that frames her vocals; the electronic washes, the lovely harmony layers and occasional guitar detail which just hangs around the middle distance.

If the term pop music conjure images of dance routines, guest rappers, cliched lyrics, brand awareness and all the style over substance nonsense that seems to have made the song itself almost irrelevant, then you need to get behind Kylie Spence and her take on commercially accessible yet cultish and discerning chart-ready dream-pop. I’m not saying that she could change the face of pop music but…actually, yes, why not her…she could change the face of pop music and you, the reader, the listener, the music consumer, are perfectly placed to begin cultivating your very own “I remember her way back when” anecdote.