Kimbra made big impressions in the last few years, with her first album Vows originally coming out in 2011, being spotted on Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know in 2012, and then having a re-working of Vows come out in 2012, it seemed like she could do anything, so..she did a little of everything on her follow-up The Golden Echo.
The album is a mixture of genres that are unified by a few key ideas, the main one being that Kimbra can pretty much do anything she puts her mind to. While comfortably sitting in a modern Soul/R&B positon, Kimbra also takes on some more Rock-Pop numbers and even the weird genre-bending pop hit 90's Music, a song that's as much of a homage in it's lyrics as it is in style. Kimbra's musical style jumps all over the place, and it's a good thing. You can never peg her down as being just one kind of style, even when she excels at it. The Golden Echo is a collage of styles that do nothing but good things for the young, but very talented Kimbra.
Songs like 90's Music and Miracle sound poised to take the pop charts, while others like As You Are and Love In High Places are like the modern comeback of Soul, like Amy Winehouse or even Adele. While still others like Teen Heat and Madhouse sound like the Funk-induced R&B of the likes of Prince. It's a kaleidoscope of genres flavors that all combine to give you an authentic sense of what Kimbra is capable of, and that you at the same time don't know where she'll go next, whether it's the low-key trap-based Goldmine or the Soul of Waltz Me To The Grave. There are no sour notes on The Golden Echo, there are just different flavors rotating through.
The instrumentation is absolutely delightful. Besides Kimbra's magnificent voice that can hit the lows as well as the highs, you have multiple appearances from accomplished bassist Thundercat, Michael Jackson's drummer John Robinson, and Morris Hayes, a keyboardist for the NPG-era Prince. On 90's Music, Muse's Matt Bellamy plays guitar, Mark Foster from Foster the people makes an appearance, John Legend is on a track, the album really is just a collage of all the things Kimbra likes and wants to incorporate into her work, and it shows. Though instead of being a Hodge-podge mess of styles, The Golden Echo holds together as it's own standalone piece of work, a reflection of who Kimbra is and what she wants to bring to music, and I'm on-board for wherever she wants to take me.
I will mention that while the vinyl lacks all the bonus songs of the deluxe version, it not only sounds fantastic, but the digital download they include also has the bonus tracks.
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