Next year, B-52 are going to celebrate forty years of their career, and the prelude to this grand milestone is a solo album by its founder and main vocalist Cindy Wilson titled Change. It is her solo debut, although she made it with the help of B-52 members. Wilson, Ryan Monahan and Lemuel Heyes are are initiators of the whole story which begun with mutual play and experimentation and ended with full length album. For the final results, Wilson noted that it was beautiful and she loves beautiful things.
As a creative force to be reckoned with, Wilson created some of the band's biggest hits; she was not only responsible for their expressive style, but she strongly contributed to the to the whole swing of pop music at that time. Her vibrant energy radiate on Change as well, although it is a bit more subtle, mature and nuanced. Cindy Wilson is a proud owner of the special sense for pop music, so this release is not a superficial mirthful hogwash, rather rich and layered amalgam of styles, textures, sounds and tones. As she admitted that she is pulled by psychedelic music, and especially the work of Tame Impala, it comes as no surprise that the sonic base of her debut is a soft, unintrusive, non-aggressive, and non-eclectic psychedelic. Subtle bass, mild synths, dreamy violin, sensual drums and sophisticated vocal - minimalism is the keyword of this effort.
Change is a release that does not only represent a change for Cindy Wilson, but it also stands for a paradigm shift in pop music. It is not a coincidence that Wilson is surfing on dream pop waves as that is her way of connecting modern particles of the pop tendencies with the traditional pop. Change is not ensnared in the aim to sound trendy, yet it is catchy enough to catch everyone's audio attention.
From the go, ethereal People Are Asking draws you in the soundscapes of the album. Wilson's vocal is more soft and more convincing than ever before. Stand Back Time reveals how skillful Wilson is in capturing the essence of dream pop sound with psychedelic vibe. Mystic offers synths profusion so it comes off as the most commercial number, while guitar-fused Brother stands as the rock anthem of the record.
All ten songs are equal in quality and equanimous in their aspiration to extenuate the boundaries of pop. Change is mature, experienced and powerful record of a pop duayen who dared to go solo after four decades of teamwork.
