Jane Weaver Flock LP (Light Rose Vinyl)

Flock is the record that Jane Weaver always wanted to make, the most genuine version of herself, complete with unpretentious Day-Glo pop sensibilities, wit, kindness, humor and glamor. A consciously positive vision for negative times, a brooding and ethereal creation.

The album features an untested new fusion of seemingly unrelated compounds fused into an eco-friendly hum; pop music for post-new-normal times. Created from elements that should never date, its pop music reinvented. Still prevalent are the cosmic sounds, but Flock is a natural rebellion to the recent releases which sees her decidedly move away from conceptual roots in favor of writing pop music. Produced on a complicated diet of bygone Lebanese torch songs, 1980s Russian Aerobics records and Australian Punk.

Amongst this broadcast of glistening sounds is "The Revolution Of Super Visions," an untelevised Mothership connection, with Prince floating by as he plays scratchy guitar; it also features a funky whack-a-mole bass line and synth worms. It underlines the discordant pop vibe that permeates Flock and concludes on "Solarised," a super-catchy, totally infectious apocalypse, a radio-friendly groove for last dance lovers clinging together in an effort to save themselves before the end of the night.

The musician's exposure to an abundance of lost records served as a reminder that you still feel like an outsider in this world and that by overcoming fears you can achieve artistic freedom. Jane Weaver continues to metamorphosize...

In a recent interview, Jane Weaver said that her intent with Flock was 'to make a pop record' - to put the conceptual scope of her previous albums aside and simply rely on her expertise as a writer of infectious melodies and tunes that add a hauntological spin on glam, disco, electro, psychedelia and shoegaze. Those tools were already on hand in collections like 2017's Modern Kosmology and 2014's The Silver Globe but by not needing to worry about how to tie them all together, Weaver lets herself flex and shift gears and bask in single ideas like wondering what it would sound like if Broadcast covered the Meters ('Pyramid Scheme') or if James Murphy produced a Kylie Minogue single ('Solarised') or if they played that disco 45 at 16 RPM ('The Revolution of Super Visions'). Excited as I am about this album, which is already one of my favorites of the year, I'm equally curious to hear it on black vinyl. The cream colored pressing I was sent to review was super noisy and crackly, pulling me right out of key moments on this otherwise fantastic LP.