Album Review

Barbara Panther – Barbara Panther

• 16th May 2011

Rwandan born Berliner raised in Brussels, Barbara Panther seems to have picked up the baton that M.I.A dropped when she went transatlantic as her self titled album opens with the powerful random percussion of Rise Up, with an almost chanted call to arms to ‘listen to the beat of the motherland, take your head out of the sand’ before an afro-centric drum beat drives home the chorus against squelching electronica.

But where I had my hopes up for a European slant on Maya Arulpragasam’s Arular, I was rather taken aback as the album makes a sudden switch to an 8-bit drenched Bjork with second track Moonlightpeople, and back again to another reverberating M.I.A likeness with the third track, aptly titled Unchained, it seems clear that a few lazily tossed out comparisons will not suffice for an artist that will not be simply tied down to expectation.

What we instead have is possibly the world’s most exciting pop artist right now. Forget anything Lady Gaga may be churning out for her sophomore LP because Barbara Panther seems to have the whole game tied up, if only Gaga would stop hogging all the limelight and commercial radio stations could see past this album’s underground aesthetic that should surely mark it out as a cult classic even if no major labels come knocking down Barbara’s doors.

Suitably guided by the production skills of Matthew Herbert, a well known and renowned experimentalist specialising in electronica and eclectic ‘found sound’, with his own past experiences including using a crisp packet as percussion and collaborating with the likes of Bjork (there she is again), R.E.M and Yoko Ono, and indeed, the chunky beat of opener Rise Up was created by recording chains being thrown against an electric heater.

The ten tracks see Barbara Panther bouncing seemingly between personalities and styles, yet as a whole it still remains an endearing and rewarding album that never jars.  Just as the album is a cauldron of diversity that has been tipped over, Panther herself is possibly best described as a melting pot that has seen Lykke Li, CSS’s Lovefoxx, M.I.A, Robyn and Bjork all thrown into the mix. Just like I’ve said earlier, Barbara Panther is more than deserving of her own acclaim, but any fans of those mentioned would definitely not be disappointed and should consider this self titled debut as a natural evolution in the world of feisty, headstrong female artists.