I felt sure we were going to hate this, and yet…
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[5.67]
Brad Shoup: How could a song named after my Harlequin proposal be such a bummer? There’s a giant hole where the sour brass goes.
[4]
Edward Okulicz: Missy Higgins’ usual fare is wide-eyed, wide-vowelled piano pop ballads of no particular ambition. As such, the claim her new album is influenced by Low and Arvo Pärt sounds scary. And yet, “Unashamed Desire” is a surprisingly good song; it’s a significant but accessible change in direction that her fans will like, and in its own way it’s as musically interesting as that recent Fiona Apple single. Best of all, her voice actually sounds good, she doesn’t over-sing or do bizarre enunciations, and she sounds comfortable. It’s got tension and hooks and all of a sudden I understand the appeal (sadly, it sounds absolutely nothing like Low). Then the Higgins I know and like a lot less resurfaces for the chorus, but the contrast just about works. That’s artistic development for you.
[7]
Alex Ostroff: The verses are so great, filled with menace and dread and something dangerous underneath Higgins’ claims of transparency. And then the awful twee chorus gleefully declares unashamed desire, leaving unfulfilled the promises (read: my hopes) for a song in which a nihilist sexuality, embraced and wielded, sends weak, scared men running for the hills.
[5]
Alfred Soto: Guttural voice, “Brown Sugar” cowbell, piano, guitar run after the chorus, and oddly pitched harmonies — it sounds like unabashed desire to me, maybe unashamed too.
[6]
Jonathan Bogart: I wish I heard as much thrust in the voice as I do in the lyrics.
[6]
Iain Mew: It says something that it has taken me so many listens to notice that the chorus to this is a fire/desire rhyme. What it says is that I switch off come the chorus because it’s such a disappointment after the opening verse, evaporating the atmosphere that’s built up. That verse is something really special, though! It takes little staged tiptoe steps and feigns vulnerability but the flatness of delivery against the sinister backing vocals makes “I’ve got nothing to hide” sound like not just a lie but a threat. Its a shame that the clanking percussion in verse two is the only pay-off it ever really gets.
[6]