There's pure pop gold to be found here, but also envelope-pushing alchemy that turns these songs into unforgettable aural expressions of joy.
An album that just becomes more engaging with time, The Golden Echo lives up to its name: it refashions the best of what came before it into something alluringly modern and a lot of fun.
It's mad and quirky, bursting with colour and passion for her inspirations. It feels less like album and more like a smorgasbord of everything Kimbra loves, and not in a bad way at all.
On her sophomore effort, The Golden Echo, Kimbra hasn't reined in her sonic exploration, yet there's a more cohesive feel to the project.
Kimbra delivers pitch-perfect multi-tracked vocal harmonies throughout, but despite its Expendables-esque cast of proven contributors, The Golden Echo is much more about imperfection and imbalance.
At its worst, The Golden Echo is admirably faceless, exhausting in its eager quest to be everything to everyone at once. At its best, it’s subversive pop brilliance.
The Golden Echo is a bold and sprawling effort that confirms Kimbra’s status as one of pop’s most flexible chameleons.
As well intentioned as it is, with occasional mesmerizing production that flutters back and forth, everything leaves you feeling like there should have been more at the root of this project.
The Los Angeles-via-Melbourne-via-Hamilton singer reportedly cut the already-overlong album down to 12 tracks from 70 ... the resulting album suggests that she's either a poor pick, leaving out some of her choicest shit, or doesn't know how to refine her ideas beyond adding to them until they sound overstuffed.
The record sounds like the lowest points of Vows: nothing more than the fading specter of a good idea.
KIMBRA DISCOGRAPHY #2 (these are old reviews):
It's an alright record, not as good as her first one. This album badly needs songs like "Settle Down", "Come Into My Head" or "Cameo Lover" in my opinion. First half of the album is not that incredible, with only "Teen Heat" really being effective on me, "90s Music" is not my cup of tea at all and there is too much electropop mess in the first half. The second half though completely saves the album ... read more
"The Golden Echo" is a passionate, powerful, personal, inspiring and cohesive art pop album. It's an ambitious project, but it turned out very well.
✅ Teen Heat | 90s Music | Carolina | Miracle | Rescue Him | Madhouse | Nobody But You
Teen Heat - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
90's Music - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Carolina - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Goldmine - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Miracle - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rescue Him - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Madhouse - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Everlovin' Ya (feat. Bilal) - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
As You Are - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Love in High Places - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Nobody but You - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Waltz Me to the ... read more
In terms of a sound palette, The Golden Echo is more refined and cohesive than Vows. But maybe it's just not as iconic? Madhouse should have been a single!! I'm torn about calling it a sophomore slump because I love these songs so much.
One of my top ten favorites ever. Amazing production, great vocals... this is just the same level as her previous album. Nice shit.
1 | Teen Heat 4:45 | 91 |
2 | 90s Music 3:36 | 83 |
3 | Carolina 4:19 | 89 |
4 | Goldmine 4:41 | 92 |
5 | Miracle 4:49 | 92 |
6 | Rescue Him 5:35 | 81 |
7 | Madhouse 4:05 | 86 |
8 | Everlovin' Ya 4:44 feat. Bilal | 76 |
9 | As You Are 5:21 | 85 |
10 | Love In High Places 5:15 | 94 |
11 | Nobody But You 5:22 | 90 |
12 | Waltz Me To The Grave 7:30 | 80 |
#1 | / | FasterLouder |
#13 | / | Sputnikmusic |
/ | AllMusic |