AlunaGeorge hew to a consistent template on Body Music: Francis provides instantly alluring vocals and enormous pop choruses, and Reid lays down a panoply of ever-shifting, frenetic electronic sounds, skittering beats, and booming bass thumps.
‘Body Music’ delights and satisfies because it teeters between and irresistible core of good old fashioned pop and a slightly oddball packaging.
Not for the first time on Body Music, they sound like exactly the kind of people you want making pop music.
AlunaGeorge have done the impossible with Body Music: they've made the dynamic, progressive pop album we all hoped for.
AlunaGeorge are a pop act at heart, with most of this debut’s songs anchored to a radio-friendly chorus.
It’s well done, fun to listen to, and a damn sight better than 90% of other pop music right now, yet you couldn’t really describe it as essential. That’s Body Music in a nutshell.
The real surprise is that such genetic-level Frankenstein-ing could possibly work - but it has. It really, really has. Body Music achieves all of its goals and then some.
AlunaGeorge have built a happy marriage out of the slick and the smart, and with Body Music, they just might manage the trick of making everyone else — from old fans to new ones; from critics to their record labels — happy too.
Despite the part-compilation/part-extras makeup, this is one of the year's more enjoyable debuts.
The greatest thing about this album is that it can’t be boxed into a particular genre, yet at the same time, it’s not haphazardly dancing between genres creating a messy sound. It’s a solid piece of work that effortlessly combines a zillion different sounds into one.
There's not much wrong with Body Music, but its constellation of contemporary electro-pop elements can sometimes feel too slick for its own good.
They ooze a confidence that marries the seductive mews of Aaliyah with something just slightly sinister. It's a combination that could easily sound forced, but Francis has mastered the trick of adding a nuance to her purrs that makes them intoxicating.
It’s a record certainly fine enough to ensure the pairing will have no issues sprinting to the upper echelons of pop aristocracy.
As with many debuts, AlunaGeorge’s album has remarkable highs but is tempered by a few weaker moments.
Body Music shows R&B continuing to expand its scope, stealing the cues of hip-hop and electronic music, which draw strength from their omnivorous appetites.
More than just a debut album, Body Music is a springboard for two bright futures.
The fundamental flaws on ‘Body Music’ are down to Reid. He’s said in a previous interview that he doesn’t want to make music in which “noises might be carrying the song”, but he’s held himself back way too much here.
At 14 tracks (19 on the deluxe), Body Music feels overlong for a debut, but she’s melodic enough to captivate even when Reid’s hissing minimalism and spastic beats start to feel warmed over.
Too many times, Body Music falls flat on its face due to a deficiency in AlunaGeorge’s formula: the succinct lack of banger-mongering on the part of Reid.
They're a singles band, not alternative-R&B conceptualists.
Body Music lacks both the pace and range required to sustain repeated listens, and rests too heavily on one – and even two – year old singles to bolster its overall quality.
It's just not as much of a leap into the future as we might have anticipated.
With the exception of the musically bland and lyrically awful “Superstar”, even at their weakest AlunaGeorge always sound genuinely keen to try something new - and at their best, they’re among the greatest at it.
The 13-track effort ... is a tough listen, one bombarded with hooks, melodies, and vocal tricks clamoring over one another for your attention.
Body Music is a crystalline pop album that proves AlunaGeorge's formula is working to great effect, but leans a bit too heavily on its own previously released singles. It doesn't ruin it though, and Body Music has plenty to offer listeners, new and old.
Starting with some weaker tracks but trust me it does get better and better and better, an electropop and R&B mixture.
Has nothing like the coherence of the début album of Disclosure, the duo AlunaGeorge collaborated with for club favourite 'White Noise'. It plays more like a compilation of almost everything they've ever written rather than a solid, refined studio album. However, some of these synth pop arrangements and R'n'B hooks from George Reid match the infectiousness and freshness of Disclosure's instrumentation. The skeletal, sweet voice of Aluna Francis works on the majority of the tracks, but ... read more
Starting with some weaker tracks but trust me it does get better and better and better, an electropop and R&B mixture.
O electropop brilhante do debut album da dupla nunca deveria ter sido abandonado, a voz angelical da Aluna nasceu para a produção groovy e criativa do George. Attracting Flies é uma obra-prima.
Fav tracks: Attracting Flies, Lost & Found, Best Be Believing, You Know You Like It, This Is How We Do It, Superstar e Just A Touch
Least fav: Kaleidoscope Love
1 | Outlines 3:47 | 75 |
2 | You Know You Like It 3:23 | 86 |
3 | Attracting Flies 3:08 | 50 |
4 | Your Drums, Your Love 3:39 | 50 |
5 | Kaleidoscope Love 3:53 | 50 |
6 | Bad Idea 3:16 | 25 |
7 | Diver 3:17 | 50 |
8 | Lost & Found 4:13 | 50 |
9 | Best Be Believing 3:45 | 50 |
10 | Superstar 3:21 | 25 |
11 | Just A Touch 3:13 | 50 |
12 | Body Music 4:02 | 75 |
13 | Friends To Lovers 4:37 | 75 |
14 | This Is How We Do It - Bonus Track 2:47 |
#6 | / | Listen Before You Buy |
#27 | / | Pigeons & Planes |
#39 | / | Q Magazine |
#44 | / | Amazon |
#45 | / | The Line of Best Fit |
#122 | / | Under the Radar |