Karen O streams debut solo album ‘Crush Songs’ in full

Intimate recordings brought together between 2006 and 2007, Karen O was clearly penning ‘Her’-ready acoustic numbers before soundtracking sadface Joaquin Phoenix was an actual thing.

Building on the success of her Academy Award-nominated track, ‘Crush Songs’ - the Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman’s debut solo album - is a collection of woozy acoustic recordings, with echo-drenched vocals linking up alongside barely-there guitar lines. It shares more in common with someone like Grouper than a Yeah Yeah Yeahs record.

The whole thing is streaming in full below, via The Guardian.

Read DIY’s four star review of ‘Crush Songs’ here. ‘Crush Songs’ is, essentially, charming. The scratchy, often muffled recordings suit the dreamy 50s-lite melodies; the guitars are rough, the vocals not perfect; this is a wonderfully intimate account – it’s only when multiple vocals join in on ‘Singalong’ (to, erm, sing along) that the image of Karen alone with a Fisher Price cassette player is broken,” says Emma Swann.