Lovewhip has their finger on the pulse of what makes people want to move their feet and shake their booties. Every track on their new Love Electric CD could be blasted out of the speakers at any dance club, and many could receive airplay on local and college radio.
The obvious hit single here, “Gimmie That” is an ode to hedonistic pleasure and LoveWhip provides a pulse pounding score here for a pretty intense encounter. The beat from Jake Zavracky’s drum programming will pull every booty onto the dance floor and Kelly Roberge’s saxophone line adds another layer of seductive charm. Lead singer Erin Harpe can hold a note forever, showing there is real musical talent behind all the cool, sexy phrases blowing through the song.
Talent underlines all that goes on, and there’s a lot going on. Timing is key to this band that never stops coming up with something to make you want to move. Production rules. Jim Countryman’s bass lines are more prominent than ever. Sax lines leap out of the stereo speakers. A variety of beats are etched into the listener’s consciousness. The blend of instruments with electronic sounds is pitch perfect.
Title track “Love Electric” opens the disc with a wide, grooving beat that has an echo effect on Harpe’s sensual voice. It would be impossible not to walk onto the dance floor when this number starts. Roberge adds the seductive horn line right when its needed most and the keyboard sounds are irresistible.
“Automatic” has a distorted, grinding hypnotic guitar phrase that lures the listener into another beat driven stew of electronic sounds and an enticing hooky chorus. “Becky Oh” slows things down to a heavier beat that will make the cute girls stir it up on the floor. Harpe’s rhythm guitar plays perfectly above the slabs of synth that keep falling into place.
Listeners can tell Harpe is having fun singing the storyline to “Wrecking Machine.” The chorus is simple but catchy and there is a synth backbeat that nobody can ignore. “MRDR” which is pronounced murder has an old R&B beat underneath the electronic melody. Harpe’s voice passes through a processor that gives her a 1980s new wave effect that actually blends in well with the bag of musical tricks.
“Drama Queen” is another slow beat driven piece that gives Harpe a chance to show her pop influences. Remember all of those 1980s songs that always sounded cute on the radio? Like Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”? Or, “In Your Room” by the Bangles? That is where “Drama Queen” is rooted. Harpe is cuter than ever here and a peppy keyboard melody completes the scene of mini-skirted, funky tights wearing young women at an 80s dance club.
Harpe is also a blues singer in her spare time, contributing her arrangement of Memphis Minnie’s “Chauffeur Blues” to give the listeners a brief pause from the bumping beat. This old time vintage feeling song makes Harpe’s voice sound like she’s singing on a transistor radio. Fittingly, the lyrics are about seduction and placed among the modern Lovewhip songs makes one realize desire is timeless. The blues number quickly fades into another booty shaking delight, “Let Go,” a combination of electro-beat, jazzy sax, and Harpe’s velvety voice winding its way through your consciousness like the snake in the Garden of Eden to tempt you into all kinds of sinful pleasure.
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