Four Island

Guess what's happening here? That's right, I'm reviewing an album! I haven't done this in a while, but then again, I haven't really been posting too frequently either. Well, that's about to stop. Let's talk about Kerli, and her debut album Love Is Dead.

I'm going to do this review in a different manner than I usually do album reviews. Usually, I write a track-by-track critique of the album, but I've found that that's actually really awful and not how, well, anyone else does it. Instead, I'm going to weave you a tale of ice cream mountains and chocolate skies. Yes. I just quoted a Kerli song.

Why I Bought It

I first heard about Kerli the same way I first heard about most of the singers I like (including Kate Nash and Regina Spektor!): my buddy last.fm recommended her to me based off the artists I already like. This was back in June/July, I believe, and at the time I wasn't really in the state to buy a new album (I had just purchased two Regina Spektor albums, received two other albums for my birthday and had a line of albums waiting for me in the upcoming months), but I decided to check her out on iTunes anyway. I listened to the song Love Is Dead and, you know, after recovering from the ensuing fainting episode, I decided I had to have the album. It would have to wait, though, because, as I said before, other albums were calling my name. That's right Christina Perri and Adele, I'm talking about you.

Fast forward to September, and next up on my list of albums is Biophilia, Björk's new album. The only problem was it wasn't out yet. It had, for some reason, been pushed back to October, so, seeing as my next album after that had to be purchased in October (I have a schedule for Regina Spektor albums, don't laugh!) and the album after that was also only coming out in October, it appeared I had a vacancy. So, it was with glee that I walked into a Best Buy near the end of September and purchased one of their two copies of Love Is Dead (which surprised me seeing as they were the only Best Buy in the area that even had the album). When I got home, I ripped it and immediately started listening to Love Is Dead, the track, I mean, but also the album. You know what I mean.

The Highlights

Love Is Dead (the track) is fantastic. I mean, I feel like that song has been swimming within me for months, ever since I first heard that snippet on iTunes back in June/July. Have you ever heard a song you really like, but don't want to listen to until a certain date and then you spend months trying and failing not to listen to it in your head? No, that's just me? Yeah, that's what I though, and perhaps I was setting myself up for this experience, but Love Is Dead gave me shivers. A truly spectacular song, it's like the epicness of Björk's Army Of Me meets the heartbreaking pain of Fefe Dobson's Scar. Seriously, it's not a common occasion that the verses of a song make me want to sing along just as much as the chorus does. The song is a journey, it really is: the song starts and it's epic and Kerli sings you through what's happening and suddenly, BAM, the song explodes into the chorus and although she's not screaming, you can hear the pain in Kerli's voice as she almost dejectedly sings "But love don't live here anymore" and muted, almost childish voices back her notion up: "Love is dead, love is gone, love don't live here anymore." Repeat that, and then, without losing flow, the song dives back into the verse with my favorite line of the song: "I know that you think of me when you're beside her, inside her." After another passionate verse and chorus, Kerli goes into another chorus and suddenly the pain is palpable and Kerli's life is being sucked from her as she repeatedly, losing strength every time, sings "Love don't live here anymore!" until she can't sing another word and the pain consumes her. Looking back at this paragraph, I'm almost definitely insane, but trust me, this is an epic song which is worth a listen or sixty seven. Trust me.

Next, Walking On Air. I actually didn't think too much of this song (though I didn't openly dislike it) the first few times I listened to the album, but after I showed the album to my good friend Drifty, to whom Walking On Air stood out as the best track, I tried it again and realized it was actually a really powerful song. Unlike Love Is Dead, this is a song whose chorus really stands out as the best part of the song, and that's because it's just flows so well. Kerli manages to sing us a mostly-monotonous chorus and make it magical at the same time. Combined with the the backing music/beat (is that clapping? Who knows, it just sounds amazing) and the incredible catchiness of the thing, Walking On Air is definitely my second favorite track on this album.

Creepshow, for another, is a really intense song. I've noticed that I'm picking out all the singles here, but whatever. Creepshow basically consists of Kerli taunting her listeners because she's "from a land called Secret Estonia" and "nobody knows where it's at." I'm not sure if Estonia actually has ice cream mountains, chocolate skies, cinnamon houses or licorice ties, but she's probably right about the nobody knowing where it is thing. Nevertheless, it's actually incredibly catchy, even when Kerli continually insists via yelling that it's a creepshow. The only weak point is the bridge, which is actually in Estonian and, well, to be honest, sounds like a bunch of made up words said in a creepy childlike voice. Still a very good song.

This album actually manages to hide a lot of gems amongst its somewhat-popular singles. The Creationist is a song that almost seems too happy for Kerli, considering most of her other songs, and I didn't like it at first but it's really grown on me. Life is awesome and all of that, yeah. I Want Nothing is another change of direction---instead of dark pop, it's some kind of rock. Once again, very catchy. Kerli wants nothing from you but to listen to her album. :P Hurt Me returns to the dark pop, but you'll find that the yelled line "go on if it makes you soar!" from the chorus gets stuck in your head pretty easily. Anger is an instrument, it totally is. Butterfly Cry is a beautiful, heartbreaking song in which Kerli is trying to convince someone that everything's okay ("Yeah, 'cause the world is wonderful..."). A slow and beautiful song. Finally, Fragile, a slow and solemn ballad, makes me tear because I associate it pretty strongly with someone for some reason and shut up why are you asking me so many questions. Listen to this album, it goes in every direction possible and manages to do it wonderfully.

The So-Sos and the Shadows

Of course, not every album is perfect and I'm not going to have deep, emotional connections with every song. For instance, the song Bulletproof, while strong and saddening, didn't make the list of best songs. It's emotional, it's painful, but it's not as powerful as Love Is Dead or Butterfly Cry. Beautiful Day is another departure from Kerli's usual dark pop, but it sounds far too much like a song better sung by Lily Allen and it's just not as catchy as The Creationist. Seriously, go listen to LDN by Lily Allen and tell me Beautiful Day doesn't sound anything like it. Strange Boy, for a third, is another rockin' song like I Want Nothing, and don't get me wrong, it's really good. This will get stuck in your head: "Strange boy, innocent, you're here, magnificent." I feel guilty for putting these songs in the "so-so" section now, I just couldn't put every song in the highlights, you know? :P

Finally, there was one song that I just didn't like. Well, an album can never be perfect, can it? Well, unless it's Soviet Kitsch by Regina Spektor, that thing was flawless. But I digress. The song Up Up Up really just didn't do anything for me. It didn't have a cute melody, no people breaking into tears of angst, no hip-hoppin' dudetastic beat, just, meh. Kerli, I'm disappointed. But not really.

The Verdict

Love Is Dead is an insane album, and it manages to go in so many directions that it actually amazes me how much of it I love. If I average the tracks, Love Is Dead gets 3.75 stars out of 5. Goodness, you know, I'm happy with the way this album review reform worked out, but I really need to find another method of getting a final rating of an album because one straggler brought the entire album down. Whatever. I really recommend you listen to this album, and if I pay her $5, I'm sure Drifty would recommend you listen to it too. It's on iTunes, dudes! You can listen to free samples! Or you could listen to the whole thing on Spotify or Youtube, whatever floats your boat. :P Starla out!