WORTH A LOOK: ****
OUT: 7/8
Tracklist: Lose Control; Love Is Free; Got To Work It Out; Set Me Free; Tell You (Today)
In pop’s holy trinity of 2015 singles we’d place Robyn’s Love Is Free between current favourite King by Years and Years and Little Mix’s Black Magic.
If we’re not counting last year’s six-song EP with Röyksopp (and, we’re not), it’s been five years since Robyn’s career-defining last proper LP Body Talk and this EP’s lead track Love Is Free (YouTube clip above) was the opposite of what we were expecting.
If artists are seasons, Robyn’s been winter for quite some time but Love Is Free is pure summer (perhaps it’s the Maluca rap?) and uplifting like her late 90s Max Martin-penned roots. But, of course, it’s far less polished than that introductory hit and is probably exactly the sort of music Robyn wishes she was making then.
Without a proper album since the amazingly glacial and downbeat Dancing On My Own, we’ll make do with this EP and luckily the standard is high. The warmth and energy continues with Got To Work It Out and Set Me Free and also the sense of returning full circle to that 90s sound when her career began. Tell You is a Loose Joints cover that reminds these ears of Pigbag with a 90s’ house makeover. First track Lose Control is the weakest here, serving as little more than introduction to the delights that follow.
monstagigz has seen Robyn four times live (this always being the highlight of so many) and feels now’s the time for that new LP. An artist as headstrong and true to herself as Robyn isn’t about to release anything however until she’s absolutely ready.
