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Oct 12, 2020 Web Exclusive By Mark Moody

Whether by fate or happenstance, Sylvan Esso’s third album, Free Love, lands at time when reminiscing about shaking your thing in a sweaty night club has about the same level of sex appeal as shopping the Harris Teeter in a surgical mask. The duo of Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn have garnered much deserved praise for their two prior releases, but the effort to partly cross-over to more standard dance pop fails to hit. And if your “four on the floor” dance routines take place stateside, you’re not likely to hear any of these tracks under the club lights anytime soon.

One thing Sylvan Esso has never been to this point is pedestrian. Whether pushing their live sets into hyperkinetic and surprisingly muscular displays or adding other musicians to the mix, the duo’s ability to seek higher ground has been impressive. But on their shortest album to date, much of its running time is given over to average material. The intro here, “What If,” misses the anticipatory crackle of What Now’s “Sound,” while the outro track, “Make It Easy,” is just as flavorless. While the primarily spoken word “Free” makes for a painfully ponderous listen. But the album hits its low point on the dance pop fodder of “Train.” Touting the track as Sanborn’s vocal debut, though his vocals are heavily processed to the point of passing for a visitor from George Clinton’s mothership, he and Meath do little to inspire a shimmy or a shake.

No doubt there are some strong entries over the brisk course of Free Love, but they are scattered. Coming late in the album, “Rooftop Dancing” may well be their best song to date. Meath’s minor key vocal hiccups make for an entrancing undercurrent as she vocally pirouettes from “ledge to ledge” over the top of the song. The playground chatter interspersed throughout (from short documentary Pizza Pizza Daddy-O) gives it an earlier era innocence that marries well with Disney-like images of skipping hand in hand across the chimney tops. Of the more dance oriented songs, “Numb” fares the best. Over a fizzy beat, Meath lands on a line dance cadence to get you up on the floor and away from your “pins and needles.” And though “Frequency” would have felt more at home on the prior album, its glitchy “Miss Mary Mack” rhythms make for a fun listen.

Regardless of when it landed, Free Love would have run a distant third in Sylvan Esso’s work to date. That it’s colored with evocations of heavy breathing and one night stands just doesn’t help its cause in the current day. With the joy of discovery of their debut and the letter perfect follow-up prostrate to the altar of sound itself, Sylvan Esso’s third was left with hard acts to follow. For a duo that to this point seemed in full command of their mission, trying out some well-worn paths only leaves them flat footed in the wrong places. There was no need to try and fall in love with everybody else’s stuff when they already knew the secret. (www.sylvanesso.com)

Author rating: 5.5/10