As with early recordings by Ariel Pink, listening to Maria Minerva's releases, starting with her Talinn at Dawn cassette through to last year's Cabaret Cixous, is like hearing someone unpack a warped, yet compelling record collection. On her newest, Minerva (née Juur) takes a few steps closer to the blurry line that separates quirky, home-taped experiments and straight-up club cuts. "Fire," featuring guest vocals by rapper Chase Royal, has the clean lines, bass creep and electronic snap of Mezzanine-era Massive Attack. Washing over the heels of that track is "Coming of Age," a carnival swirl of keyboard lines and layered echo vocals that suggests teenage Kate Bush at the bottom of a deep cistern. Strange and very momentary appearances of pop/dance staples like dubstep drops and Auto-Tune are neat winks that show Minerva isn't some bedroom naïf, but is actually aware of the bigger playing field she is sneaking onto, late at night.
via Exclaim!
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