Coming across some older tracks by AllieX might give the wrong impression of a generic pop singer. But even if this was the case, which is respected since every piece of music is the product of someone's labour, here she proves us otherwise. And after experiencing her live performance in Athens, opening for Marina, I was more than convinced she was special.
Allie was owning the stage so intensely that It felt more like Marina would never appear and I attended the wrong show. People don't talk enough about her huge vocal ability which can only be realized outside her recordings for some reason.
Now, Cape God was released early 2020 (cursed year) and is an outstanding example of music that, even though it's clearly pop, it doesn't seem to be created for commercial use. Here it's pretty obvious that she expresses pop in her own terms and that's what separates her from the rest of the 'divas'. The mood throughout the album is cleverly playful, meaning, there are moments like 'Fresh Laundry' and 'Regulars' that you need to take a moment, give attention to the intriguing lyrics and translate them in your own way while having fun at the same time. More specifically 'Fresh Laundry' geniusly transforms itself transitioning from a tricksy Verse/Refrain to an obscure chorus: You said you're always on my side. But what if my side has changed too much? Then tell me, who am I?
On the other hand, the times when she lets her darkness do the work, I can see a completely different persona. If I overthink about it, this persona has 3 sub-personas to show in this album. We have the Commanding one in 'Devil I know', reminding a bit of her signature 'Bitch' anthem, the Heartbroken in 'Love me Wrong' (feat.Troye) and the Mysterious, Seductive one in 'Madame X' which is my personal favorite. It wouldn't come as a surprise if MadameX ended up in a James Bond movie Soundtrack. Now, those three gems are scattered in the tracklist as delicious treats in this idiosyncratic fun ride this LP offers. Maybe it's greedy to say that if we had two more of those darker moments I would be a huge fan of this album. Still Cape God is undeniably a breath of fresh air in today's music and AllieX is a promising, much underrated artist and performer.
PS: Allie X was among the artists that were so eager to share their newly released album on tour but it all got cancelled because of the pandemic in March. Such a bummer.
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