James K – Friend

Jamie Krasner drifts through dreamscapes: her glossolalia vocals emerged from a post-dubstep haze on ‘Rihanna’ off her debut album; an uncanny refrain slinked through the industrial ambience of ‘alright’ on her follow up. Now, a combo of rattling trip hop drums, breakbeats and ambling shoegaze guitars bring clarity to Krasner’s third LP ‘Friend’. Oddities keep this formula fresh: where trip hop trudges with little variety on ‘N’Balmed’, pitch-bent guitar riffs and lurching sub bass spice up ‘Lung Slide’ nicely. Krasner’s vocals are the most enticing element, though. They’re playful when she mimics the eee of ‘Doom Bikini’’s spiralling synths; they’re assured when she flops from falsetto into a bed of breakbeats on ‘Hypersoft Lovejinx Junkdream’; and they’re Hayley-Williams-meets-Imogen-Heap levels of emo when she croons over distorted guitars on ‘Play’. ‘Friend’ is the clearest, most emotive Krasner has been.