Aluna George – 'I Remember' review
Second albums are famously tricky affairs, and trickier still when your debut spawned a single that’s had half a billion streams. But that’s the (kind of) enviable situation in which AlunaGeorge find themselves – and their desire to replicate the success of their hulking You Know You Like It is palpable here, if never completely realised. There are plenty of game attempts though: Hold Your Head High and In My Head are the best shots at reproducing its pop-bashment slink, and the future-RnB stylings of My Blood evoke the same alienated melancholy.
But I Remember is far more rewarding when it ploughs its own furrow. When live instruments replace electronics on Mediator, a rounder, warmer sound emerges that complements Aluna’s sugary singing voice far better than the rather broad electronic production elsewhere, and the pulsing Heartbreak Horizon – more upbeat, more straightly pop and, crucially, trying less hard – is a far comfier fit for Aluna’s addictively bratty vocals. As an album, that inconsistency is frustrating. As a teaser for album three? Intriguing.
6/10
