Zilla
Zilla With Her Eyes Shut
(Accidental)
Parisian-in-London Zilla reveals an unmistakable singular vision across the dozen songs that make up her new Zilla With Her Eyes Shut. Sampling bottles, hairpins, blowing through the pages of a book, this is an interesting mix of arpeggiating soundscapes mixed with Zilla’s high warble.
A loud metallic bray opens “Get Ready,†leading into what will become a consistent trope on this album; highly-tuned percussion sounds mixed with bleeps and burps. Zilla’s singing here reminds me of Madonna and her experiments with William Orbit. It’s a solid opening to be sure.
A softer, “The Sleepwalker,†informed by a talk-vocal, follows. “Little Things,†has got a cool first beat ‘bong’ off a low pinging sound, and the lyric presents one of the many examples of Zilla getting into some territory of what’s not so often explored in a pop song.
“Cut Me Boy,†delivers a mix of vocal snippet samples, with bleeps and burbs. On this one, Zilla mines a Kate Bush vocal delivery.
“Rainbows†is a welcome pop-sounding dance track. The lyrics, like most here, betray a heavier sensibility. Still, the song floats nicely with Zilla delivering her best vocal of all the dozen, and she manages a judicious production of those burps, bleats, and sandpaper-y percussion snaps. “Desire,†with its simple piano and Zilla’s sexiest vocal here, presents another welcome respite (I could have done without the percussion backing). And Zilla With Her Eyes Shut ends with “Paris,†a pretty string song overall with the first real layering of Zilla’s vocals, handled very well indeed.
Zilla With Her Eyes Shut is made of a unique dozen songs of a certain sound, but all well written and executed.
