DEBBY FRIDAY – The Starr Of The Queen Of Life

There is no particle filter through which DEBBY FRIDAY exhales her promiscuous fuel. And so her spaceship zooms through the flickering synth infinity to the pulse of crisp reactor beats. The jumpsuits lie on the clinically clean floor, beads of sweat glisten on bare skin.

Poetry and nude selfies
Love the way that you know me
Touch the back of my right knee
Tongue ya down just like Delphi

And yes, one could get hung up on the frequent and almost crude lasciviousness. There are hardly any hidden messages to be found here; the Nigerian-born, Toronto-based artist whispers unencrypted and seductively into your ear. But these suggestive lyrics are nestled in euphoric electronica compositions that escalate from the loins to the dance floor. 1/17 flickers in the best trance style, All I Wanna Do Is Party pumps and stomps.

However, DEBBY FRIDAY’s second album, The Starr Of The Queen Of Life, is not a homogeneous work—either lyrically or musically. In Alberta, she dissects grief and forgiveness into a bittersweet R&B sound. There is the spartanly instrumented yet atmospheric ballad Leave. Traces of baile funk and gqom can be heard in the sultry Higher.

The influence of hip-hop, perceptible throughout, is most evident in In The Club. And, of course, there is the brilliant post-punk twist in Darker The Better.

Taken on their own, these tracks have a unique, sometimes outstanding character. The Starr Of The Queen Of Life is fearless in its drive to find new approaches to pop music. And of course, it is juicy and erotic, but also fragile and intimate beyond the pure physicality.

But the real feat that DEBBY FRIDAY accomplishes here is the fact that this eleven-song second album does not fall apart into a thousand pieces. It's a risk that is shamelessly taken, given the sound that sometimes strives in extremely contrasting directions. And yet everything holds together wonderfully here, no welds, no hastily plucked tape. An exquisite album for people willing to take risks.