Uncredited vocalists? Australian dance music veterans can do it too!
[Video][Website]
[5.60]
Claire Biddles: Bratty vocals! Predictable drops! RAVE PIANO! Sometimes the most obvious things are the most charming, and “Chameleon” is a satisfyingly uncomplicated banger.
[7]
Tim de Reuse: A fun bit of ear candy that wants exactly nothing more and nothing less than to be a fun piece of ear candy. It’s a pity, though, that the vocalist (Kira Divine, who is listed only as the “Dancer” in the Youtube description) doesn’t get her name plastered all over this thing, since she carries ninety percent of the song’s weight with her precise, razor-sharp delivery. The other ten percent of the song is carried by those awkwardly bright MIDI piano chord stabs, which I sincerely hope end up back in style again.
[7]
Will Adams: The breakdowns are glorious, and I would have liked their major-key ebullience to be carried into the drops. “Chameleon” opts for contrast instead, and it barely sustains its energy between the choruses thanks to Kira Divine’s vocal.
[6]
David Sheffieck: Sunny and slight, the vocal effects ultimately weigh this down (and the failure to even credit vocalist Kira Divine drops it another two points: “bad food and the portions were so small” in song format). She’s rendered tinny enough to become grating, even as the production manages a decently upbeat hook and a half. The song chirps positively enough that I wouldn’t mind it in a club where a DJ could remix it better than Pnau have here.
[3]
Ramzi Awn: Built for the right place at the right time, “Chameleon” is not made for the indoors. Better heard on a rooftop or at a block party, the sun-soaked head-bopper is infectiously joyful. The trembling synths usher in a corral of voices that ultimately win you over.
[7]
William John: The self-titled Pnau record — the most ubiquitous Modular album that wasn’t actually released by Modular — is now ten years old. Other than nostalgic tweets I’ve observed little to substantiate claims that “bloghaus is back,” and though this self-described “bonkers” single doesn’t quite fit that mould, it’s the closest recent approximation to it in the charts that I can recall. The track itself seems to hover constantly on a precipice, flirting with a drop that never arrives, but the building blocks shimmer lustily like the sky at beginning of a warm summer evening. A shoutout to uncredited vocalist Shakira Marshall — aka Kira Divine — proving that the much-maligned Kelli-Leigh syndrome in modern dance music continues unabated.
[6]
Scott Mildenhall: This doesn’t make up for the continued lack of the reported follow-up to Pnau’s 2012 Elton John collage, but it will suffice. It bends time in a similar way, too, albeit to a lesser extent. Taking a drop of Basement Jaxx and a drop of Soundboy Rock-era Groove Armada, it’s a joyful anachronism. Accordingly, it might well be culturally dubious too — at least the aforementioned may have given credit to Shakira Marshall.
[7]
Micha Cavaseno: Functional and pretty energetic in a jubilant way. At the same time, once you get past the unique characteristics found in the tribal edge, a lot of this track becomes really run of the mill, and leaves you feeling really hollow with disappointment. Songs who wear masks to pretend they’re more than who they are don’t earn their place in the world, and it’s a discredit to their potential.
[5]
Katherine St Asaph: Two-thirds of this is the grating tunelessness I imagine people who didn’t like Icona Pop heard in “I Love It.” The rest isn’t distinctive enough to wait around for.
[1]
Edward Okulicz: The opening “All right! Let’s goooooo!” is infectious and catchy, and other scraps of this are equally so: especially the piano, and the bassline which reminds me of Groove Armada’s “Superstylin’.” Some cool sounds, brattish attitude, but the verses meander a little much and I hunger for something a bit more obnoxious to go with Shakira Marshall’s sass.
[7]