Jessy Lanza - Oh No

Jessy Lanza’s debut album ‘Pull My Hair Back’ would be best described as electro R&B; strong, soulful vocals taking up a lot of the foreground, riding over sharp, Grimes-esque synths.

Instrumentation takes the lead role in its follow-up, ‘Oh No’, with the Canadian’s vocal style switching dramatically. The album is a much heavier listen than ‘Pull My Hair Back’ - where synth lines rode calm over prominent vocal lines on her debut, here they swerve and crash through significantly poppier numbers.

More elements of Lanza’s pulverising live show - which she toured with Caribou after guesting on his ‘Second Chance’ track - creep into ‘Oh No’, an album clearly steeped in increased confidence and stability. ‘vv violence’ is playful and irresistible, while ‘going somewhere”s future-pop sees Lanza set on finding her own world rather than fitting into an existing one.

Lead single ‘it means i love you’ is a cutting, tribal track that pits prickly, hyper vocals against her heaviest instrumental work to date. Every element of ‘Pull My Hair Back’ is taken and ran with to its limits, with no sense of restraint shown.

‘Oh No’ doesn’t quite signal a reinvention for Lanza, but a move towards one end of her capabilities, one which consistently brings excitement, energy and openings for new paths for her to head down.