Kimbra, Vows
Reviewed by: Ruby Niemann
Before I get into this review, let me go ahead and claim 21 year old singer/songwriter Kimbra for my country. Kimbra comes from New Zealand – basically the Canada of Australia – and in Australia, we have a fun little tradition whereby, whenever a New Zealander (pronounced Nu Zillund-er if you want to get technical) gets any sort of success in music, film, or any of the other creative arts, we claim them as our own. So, this review is about Kimbra, a 21 year old Australian singer/songwriter with a pretty incredible set of pipes, and her debut album Vows.
Kimbra is a skinny little white girl with a voice reminiscent of a 1960s soul singer. There’s a moment in the film clip for Gotye’s song “Somebody That I Used To Know,” which Kimbra guest vocals on, where she sings her final line right into Gotye’s ear, and he winces. And, after listening to “Two Way Street” at a volume slightly higher than ‘way too loud’ on my iPod this week, I get it. Kimbra’s range is impressive, and dammit, the girl can get loud. It’d pretty incredible that such a tiny twenty-one year old could have such a voice – except you do hear it a lot more than I, as someone who hates hearing about musical prodigies, would like. But I’ll forgive Kimbra for being young and talented, because Vows is a pretty cool album.
Kimbra sashays gently between genres on Vows, straying through different styles while still maintaining a sense of herself throughout – impressive in a 21 year old, considering most people her age (and I say this being well, nearly her age) have a hard time maintaining a sense of self in their everyday lives, let alone in their creative endeavours.
Occasionally the songs are cute, jazzy, and poppy – like on “Limbo,” where Kimbra channels a sort of Lily Allen vibe. It feels sunny, and light, the notes sparkling a little behind her smooth, smokey voice, which bounces through the octaves like the step of a little kid on the first day of summer. In fact, Kimbra’s voice reminds me a lot of Lily Allen. Not so much her actual voice, but more the playful, almost irreverent tone that she sings with on a lot of her songs. It’s fun, even when it’s serious, and it makes Vows a pretty ideal album to listen to when it’s heading into Spring here in the Southern hemisphere.
On “Settle Down,” Kimbra kicks off the album crooning softly over a backing of her own almost-scat style vocals, making a slightly stalker-ish song about settling down and having child called, ahem, Nebraska, sound not only sweet, but actually kind of sexy. Which is actually kind of a feat, considering how terrifying the subject matter can be. So yeah, Kimbra is adorable, pretty talented (although there is a dearth of Australian talent lately, so I may be overcompensating) and yes, is blossoming into my brand new musical girl-crush, demoting both Lily Allen and Regina Spektor.
So yeah, this album is pretty great. Smooth, soulful, catchy – it’s good. Not all of the songs exactly hit – “Plain Gold Ring” and “Withdraw” spring to mind – but her voice is good enough to carry it, and it may just be because I’m not so much into slow soul music. If that’s more your style, then I can see that objectively, they’re both pretty good songs. Not only has Kimbra got a great voice, but she also writes fun, complex, good songs, and I for one am glad to share a hemisphere with her – even if she does make me feel a little bit under-accomplished.