By shelz.

Dance Dance Revolution is territory a lot of American pop and R&B artists have stepped into recently.  The disco cycle has come full circle and women who once resided solely in the realm of soulful ballads and Hip-Hop hooks, have traded their urban sound in for synth driven electro pop tracks and lyrics with repetitive shake your ass demands.  After a year inundated with albums from dance newbies, it’s become obvious few can do it like Swedish boogie queen Robyn.

After 5 years with no fresh material, Robyn is back with not one, not two, but three new albums for 2010.  The Body Talk trilogy began in June with Part 1.  It was an edgy multi-genre fusion romp through the ever expressive imagination of the songstress.  Now Part 2 is upon us and while it lacks the dark energy that drove Part 1, Robyn still manages to provide a club ready album that’s sure to keep her fans happy.

It’s a bit safe for Robyn.  The production is good but it lacks her normal forward thinking style. It relies more on the tried and true production technique, but it’s still slick and well arranged.   The intro to “Include Me Out” even mentions the simplicity. An electronic voice states flatly, “It’s just a single pulse repeated at a regular interval.”

Where this is album truly wins is in its ideology. It’s not presented as just another dance album.  None of Robyn’s music is.  This is a movement; a safe haven for sonic youth, a place to dance away depression and celebrate living outside of the box.  If that sounds corny to you, it’s because you are an enemy of the glow stick state and you just wouldn’t understand.

The principles of the dance movement come across loud and clear on the galvanizing cut “We Dance to the Beat,” a song with a definite old school house feel. Robyn suggests there is more at work than just the 808’s.  The bass is compared to shifting tectonic plates as she incites her followers to dance in celebration of their individual talents and abilities that go unnoticed by the world.  There is mention of radioactive exits, lies pretending they are truth and even a shout out to bad kissers.  They need love too you know.

Robyn’s pop sensibilities come across loud and clear on the track, “Hang With Me.” The song is a reprise of the acoustic version found on Pt 1, just with the full electronic vibe. It’s odd that an album full of so much inclusion and outreach takes a negative turn when considering romantic love, but “Hang With Me” is a lucid statement to suitors that she is down to hang and nookie is an option, but your heart should go home with you at the end of the night. She revisits the idea of tender love being awful in “Love Kills.” The title is pretty self-explanatory, no?

Diplo adds to the party with the track for “Criminal Intent” and while his production is laser sharp as usual, the lyrics are pretty cliché.  I’m so hot; it should be against the law.  We’ve never heard that before, have we?

The lone feature, Snoop, shows up to cosign Robyn’s assertion that “U Should Know Better.” The track is electro-post punk with a touch of Max Headroom.  Snoop seems to be big on awkward features these days.  He brings his normal steez and Robyn follows suit with comical results.  This is still better than “California Gurls.”

Body Talk Part 2 is a grouping of little catchy tunes that stay with you whether you want them to or not.  Robyn has a fragile voice, but the digital enhancement isn’t overboard and she stays in her lane. The production is paint by numbers at times but the unfussiness allows it a proximity to flawless that many of Robyn’s counterparts haven’t been able to find this year.  So Robynites unite.  The movement is in full bloom, the music is good and the floor is all yours to dance your troubles away as you anxiously await part three.

Robyn – “Hang With Me”

01-robyn-hang_with_me_(original)

out of 5

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