DeQn Sue – Juggernaut (The Pink Donut Shop)
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| DeQn Sue - Juggernaut |
Release Date: Out Now
Generally speaking, 2016 sucked
as a year and we lost a load of brilliant, shining musical lights which left
some sizeable holes in the creative world. One of those holes was the exact
size and shape of Prince which, although small, was a particularly strangely
shaped hole which nobody has been able to fill to date. Cue the uniquely
talented DeQn Sue with a brilliant debut album and a sack full of ideas that
Prince would thoroughly approve of.
‘Juggernaut’ opens with the
gorgeous piano riff of ‘Delivery Girl’ and a simple tale of wanting to be
recognised as a human being even though, heaven forbid, you work in the service
industry. Straight away, Sue opens with a catchy, alt-pop anthem for the masses
without a hint of aggression but plenty of ideas, shovel loads of soul and an
80s inspired middle-eight break down. ‘Hello Neighbour’ follows on and although
it loses some of the opener’s momentum it is still a beautiful piano based
ballad that mirrors Beyonce and Kelis in its feel but with the intimacy turned
up to 11 as you hear every lip-smack and breath in between the carefully
selected lyrics.
On ‘Hunny’ the wonky synth melody
and uber-perky rhythm belies the sad lyrics and you can’t help but imagine a
sad Manga rabbit singing this as she walks around Tokyo looking for a lost love
(well, I can’t at least). Conversely, recent single ‘Jack’ has a more sinister,
night time feel as the vocals creep in insidiously between the rhythmic cricket
croaks sparse synth melody. The absolute nailed on banger comes in the form of
‘Melanin’ which deserves a large scale flash-mob themed video to go with the
racial equality focused lyrics set to stomping disco-funk tune – the anthem
that all generation needs. ‘Messy’ returns us to the wonky synths and
sprinkling of vocal interjections and melodious showers in between the rainbows
but again the lyrics are the chalk to the melody’s cheese. This is sweet and
sour in musical form and it is so, so more-ish. Luckily we’re only at the half
way point of this debut long player so let’s keep on trucking, yeah?
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| DeQn Sue |
The fabulously title ‘Pinata No
Rap’ is a particularly edgy and twitchy piece with the droned lyric “I heard a
shot fired, it was meant for me but it just missed me by an inch” which sets a
dark tone that Missy Elliott would be pleased with. Latest single ‘Shook Up’
shows off our heroine’s more experimental side again with dramatic string stabs
and an almost Latino sway building up to a full on RnB chorus but not before an
almost religious, choral vocal gets smashed out of the park by those huge
beats. ‘Starter Adult’ is my personal favourite on the album, partly because it
uses a classic funk bass line that just makes me want to dance but mainly
because it tells the story of so many people I know who tried the ‘normal’ life
route before realising that it just made them miserable and now they’re happy
doing what they love. It’s pretty inspirational.
The album closes out with ‘Unicorn’,
a perky ode to individualism and uniqueness that fuses Katy Perry’s pop chops
with Kimbra’s sense of quirk to make a song that should be played every
pre-teen the world over to make sure they know that they’re doing just fine no
matter what their differences. DeQn Sue is a singular talent who has the
ability to take her career in any number of directions which is exciting but
this is just the kick off, a starter for ten if you will. Hugely enjoyable and
thoroughly recommended.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/DEQNSUE/
Live Dates:
25th September – Gallery 5, Richmond w/Elizabeth
Owens + Zooanzoo