K.Flay: Every Where Is Some Where
Details
Genre: Alternative, Electronica, RockPros:
Blend of hip-hop, Lana Del Ray-esque alternative rock and electro along with confessional poetic slams creates hypnotic brew for millennial pity partiesCons:
It's a downer record, frothy with midtempos. And lacks the big crossover smashes she's well capable of pulling offYou’ve been warned: K.Flay’s latest electro-rock alternative adventure is dark, wild and hazy as hell
You’ve been warned: K.Flay’s latest electro-rock alternative adventure is dark, wild and hazy as hell
With a frothy nasal quality, rap-sing hybrid Kristine Flaherty — abbreviated as K.Flay — comes off sounding eerily alternative. She’s not a new species of blue-eyed hip-hop and alternative pop; Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX have fascinated that conversation. But K.Flay does an extraordinary thing by bridging the dreamy, druggy soundscapes of Lana Del Ray with brittle poetry slams. It’s that hypnotic connection that makes the Tommy English/JT Daly dual-produced Every Where Is Some Where a fascinating find. On “Dreamers,” the only song produced by programmer/co-writer Simon Says, she declares “I want more” as she chases for the lucrative things and an expedient high while putting a pause on the eternal theory (“you go to heaven when you die, I’m betting”). Her explanation for life’s whims on this opening track paves the way for K.Flay’s whimsical search, a rebellious one that’s totally detailed in her diary-like lyrics. The music surrounding those lines is plainly mid tempo, a trend that’s unbroken throughout the set.
Above the norm of the disc arises “Giver,” possibly strong enough to rock out an outdoor music festival. It struts with an alt-rock savvy, laced with psychedelic spills, scratchy guitar and a booming drum. “Blood in the Cut” is broody in imagery as rage and envy strikes the heart over a disappearing love act, but simmers to the top as one of the album’s glowing moments. And then’s there’s the two-minute confessional “Champagne” which finds K.Flay glorying in Twista-like rhyme delivery after confessing a bold darkness of her own reality (“I got the devil in my head but angels swimming in my blood”). She then turns to a new high on “High Enough.” Whether it’s physical or chemical is up to one’s own interpretation.
The disc is totally dark, but every now and then it rears its head towards a prayer towards the light (“Mean It,” “It’s Just a Lot”), a last-minute search for answers (“Slow March”) and even something musically transcendent going far beyond the DOY kaleidoscope exasperated on the album (the psychedelic rock-pop of “Hollywood Forever”). Even “The President Has a Sex Tape” gives off a slice of dark comedy, although it fails to come up with the juicy tea of the controversial Trump dossier. The title grips your attention, but the meat inside has less protein than a typical CNN breaking news segment.
Depending on one’s acumen of abyssal expeditions, Every Where Is Some Where is the perfect fuck-you record to put on right now. In this Trump era, it’s an escape experience for millennials slowly sinking in a den of real life blues. If you like a pity party or enjoy frolicking in a pool of misery, K.Flay is here to give you company. For all the uppers one decides to inject, the dark music and eclipsing lyrics aboard is almost enough to create a careful balance. Too bad the disc suffers from an apparent lack of fierce viral smashes.
