Now a Juno-winning under-appreciated pop group, I’ll have you know.
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Katherine St Asaph: If Dragonette’s going to break through, now’s the time. “Hello” gave them name and chart recognition, but more importantly, Marina and Nicola, Robyn and Katy and Carly and so many others have tiled pop with the glittered, scuffed stuff of Dragonette’s best work. And “Let It Go” is indeed among the best. The synth-guitar slashes and shaken-seltzer choruses are exciting in the exact way pop-house isn’t anymore. The lyrics are crisp; anyone can write a carpe diem chorus, but ask certain other songwriters to pull off the enjambment and innuendo of, say, “we get a little faded, the colors go / running out of our clothes,” and they’ll have checked out by the first big word. And no one smirks like Martina Sorbara. No one.
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Andy Hutchins: The chops near the end of the bridge, as it were, are a nice reminder that the eyes of synth hurricanes are often preferable to the wall. Oh, and a nice reminder to just go listen to “Hello” instead.
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Anthony Easton: It starts like one of those Apple II video games, and the middle bit has that spoken sung elegance of late 90s louche decadents, and there are bits near the end where everything fall apart. It is less filthy than the last album was, but it’s trying to smooth off rough corners while still being filthy, which isn’t the easiest trick in the world.
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Pete Baran: This won’t be soundtracking endless TV stings like “Hello” did, but its yet another solid entry in the “why won’t Dragonette have a hit” enigma. Nice harsh synth lines, pop oozing out of the chorus and Martina’s usual coy bubblegum vocals over the top. A smash at number 92, but it’ll keep me busy over the summer.
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Edward Okulicz: Relatively G-rated for these guys, yet still as lusty as anything out of the boudoir Martina Sorbara’s best songs all spring from, but now with the added propulsion of the roller rink. “Let it Go” is yet another in a long line of Dragonette songs that appear to ask the question of what Cyndi Lauper would have been if “She Bop” had been her signature song rather than “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” This is a better song than the ubiquitous “Hello,” but its ability to move is definitely informed by the group’s time collaborating with Solveig, Kaskade et al. Dragonette have never been ones to chuck their best song out as the first single, so that this is my favourite lead single of theirs makes me really, really excited.
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Brad Shoup: Weirdly (or not – after all, it’s Dragonette), it’s a better text than tune. The stitches are showing — if not that, then the chorus just can’t wait for something like a thought break for it to appear.
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Iain Mew: As almost a Dragonette newcomer I hear this as Marina and the Diamonds with all of the skill, hooks and melodic sweep and none of the unwanted baggage. I’ve got that fundamentally the wrong way round, right?
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