When some singers record solo albums, the results don't sound that different from the music they make with their bands. That's not the case with
Lauren Mayberry
's
Vicious Creature
.
Mayberry
's ringing vocals are as integral to
Chvrches
' sound as their mammoth synths, but a decade after the band broke through with
The Bones of What You Believe
, she takes the opportunity to reconnect with herself and the music she first loved. None of it sounds much like
. Instead,
channels
Fatboy Slim
's "Praise You" on "Sunday Best," which uses its rousing, tumbling beats to telegraph that she's going to do whatever she wants on her solo debut. On "Something in the Air," she uncovers the missing link between
All Saints
and
Alanis Morissette
. Reclaiming the bright, frothy pop sounds often dismissed by indie music fans doesn't dull
's diamond-sharp lyrics -- if anything, they're especially potent together. On the taut synth pop of "Change Shapes," she uses the girlishness of her voice expertly as she blurs the lines between placating and manipulating ("It's your game/Now you're mad that I learned the rules").
sounds fully fed up with being told what to do and how to be on that song's brassy flip side "Crocodile Tears" ("Maybe I'm a villain/But I find it kind of thrillin'/When you cry"), but it's just as catchy. Some of
's strongest moments happen when
pushes her moods to extremes. When it comes to love and sex, she's sardonic, as on the buzzy, addictive "Shame" and the driving rock of "Punch Drunk," yet she's more vulnerable than ever on soul-baring ballads like "Anywhere But Dancing," one of the album's biggest and most affecting departures.
covers so much ground that some drastic mood swings are inevitable; the juxtaposition of "Oh Mother"'s tender complexity and "Sorry, Etc."'s crashing rant against internalized misogyny is especially jarring.
is a wilder ride than might be expected -- at times, it feels like these songs have been pent up inside
for years -- but it's great to hear her own her music so fully. ~ Heather Phares