It’s Vaguely Tropical And/Or Far-Flung Locations Monday!
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[7.50]
Michaelangelo Matos: I kept wanting to like her more than I actually did. “Katy on a Mission” did absolutely nothing for me — I swear, I thought people were taking the piss when they started going apeshit for it, and (relative to the Internet circles I travel in) in such numbers! This imaginatively realized disco track warms things up considerably, though it’s the production that involved me, not Katy, who sounds so matter-of-fact even as she gets eaten like a cupcake by production FX that I’m starting to understand her better. Imperturbable and ready to party: a winning combination.
[8]
Edward Okulicz: Katy’s voice hits its peak of warmth and invitingness here. She’s soulful, she’s disco, she’s wafting in and out of your eardrums like an angel telling you to dance.
[8]
Jonathan Bogart: I have an affection for abbreviated statements of purpose out of all proportion to their suitability as masterpieces of pop. This is Katy B’s “Hey Hey, We’re the Monkees” or “Four Horsemen,” setting forth her agenda, her values, and her platform with all the directness and base-appealing of a presidential candidate. Other songs might show off her range, her personality or her ability to conceptualize a new world. “Movement” just insists on itself, and its drum ‘n’ bass rush is enough to convince.
[9]
Katherine St Asaph: “Movement” rewards on two levels. It’s Katy’s simultaneous feints toward R&B and disco, executed gloriously; it’s also a demonstration of the verve that Katy’s inert relationship isn’t offering her. The song’s too short, which proves her point.
[8]
Alfred Soto: By not trying to outpace the rock-steady beat and knowing her limits, Katy accomplishes something so marvelous that I can’t believe so many dance dollies fail. And how about those fluttering multitracked harmonies?
[8]
Brad Shoup: Great near-rhymes on a slight track. Sad to see those backwards washes go; their absence turn a Deee-Lite into a chore. To her credit, for a professional, Katy B often emotes like an amateur. A little too kinetic for a true chillout track, but dancing seems daunting without a remix.
[5]
Hazel Robinson: This is, unfortunately, one of several points on the Katy B album where I think “Christ, yes, you’d be that friend who kept announcing we should all stay out because it was fun even though it clearly was not, and then I’d vomit in my shoes on the way to work.” None of the spook and glamour of “Katy On A Mission” pulls this out of the stylistic quagmire of any seventh single off even an extremely good debut album.
[6]
Alex Ostroff: The first few times going through On a Mission, “Movement” wasn’t a standout. Other tracks had bigger hooks, more epic climaxes or more explosive breakdowns. As it turns out, what “Movement” has going for it is right on the label. The song is constantly kinetic, stopping only briefly for a jittery chopped utterance of the title before continuing onwards. It earns its spot with Katy’s intonation of “Silence is the sound of now / when I much prefer love bold and loud,” even if this is one of the few songs on the LP that is neither. Short, sweet, and apt to be played at martini bars and yuppie lounges. Sometimes that’s not a bad thing.
[8]