Kimbra

Primal Heart

Perhaps it’s her wisely chosen collaborators or more life experience, but Kimbra’s exploratory ethos has never been so on point.

The time and deliberation taken by Kimbra on ‘Primal Heart’ shows, as on album three she’s truly hit her stride. Throughout she offers up rich, swirling instrumentals and intricate musical landscapes, crunchy chord progressions and twinkling chromaticism complemented by her confident, warm vocals.

A consistently winning album, Primal Heart finds Kimbra hitting the sweet spot between imagination and accessibility -- if her nods to the mainstream get more ears pointed her way, so much the better.

Though she’s often made albums that straddle sharp pop with very focused genre-pieces, she has written her most cohesive collection of songs to date with Primal Heart.

In an album that is perhaps Kimbra’s strongest work yet, Primal Heart sees the New Zealand musician fuse elements of the old and new, creating an art-pop LP determined to overcome past faults.

You can’t help but feel, though, that Primal Heart lacks blood. For every genre-busting banker such as Human (inventive, effects-laden soul) or Recovery (pugnacious swing-pop), there are so-so tracks that should have been palmed off on to someone else.

The New Zealand musician’s third album is a collision of hard electronics with a touch of R&B. Though it contains moments of great power, it sounds like a work that’s stuck between two places.