Album Review: Karin Park - Highwire Poetry

Karin Park
Highwire Poetry
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

Swedish singer Karin Park had a strange upbringing, growing up in a remote Swedish town before being sent to school in a Japanese missionary with no Western cultural touchstones. This disjointed development translates into a fairly odd listening experience on her latest album Highwire Poetry, which dives headfirst into a gothic electro groove and rarely lets any light in. The immediate touchstones with Park are obviously Karin Dreijer-Andersson (The Knife and Fever Ray) and Bjork. In fact, it is almost impossible to listen to Highwire Poetry without hearing Dreijer-Andersson in almost every facet. This would not be such a bad thing if Park did something new and fresh with the music and sound, but unfortunately it comes across more as a homage than something truly original. With that said, however, Highwire Poetry is not completely without merit and has some pretty great dance tracks.

"Thousand Loaded Guns" is a pounding synth-pop anthem with a gorgeous chorus.



"Tiger Dreams" takes off from a trip-hop beginning, making its way through dubstep and post-dubstep; Park's voice fragile and moving.



The warped synths and bouncy rhythms of "Restless" get under your skin.



Actually, and this is odd for me to say, Highwire Poetry works best when she sticks to a more pop leaning sound. It is when she lays on the experimentation thick that the comparisons to Karin Dreijer-Andersson are more apparent. "6000 Years" is completely odd and bizarre, almost like a Eastern religious hymn sung by the undead,



"Fryngies" uses a skittering drum pattern and echoing synths that can disguise the fact that the lyrics are just plain odd,



and the droning "Wildchild" becomes more of a focus on Park's voice which again draw all the comparisons to her influences.

But overall, Highwire Poetry has enough good tracks to at least keep you interested while The Knife and Fever Ray are dormant. From the swirling "Tension," dark electro-pop of "New Era," and the slow burn of catchy pop track "Explosions" it is rather hard to resist her penchant for good hooks.



I'm guessing there is not much Park can do to alleviate the Karin Dreijer-Andersson comparisons, and it doesn't seem like she cares all that much. I suppose if you are going to wear your influences on your sleeve you might as well go for broke. There is nothing at all bad with this record, and honestly I find myself coming back to it more often than not. But I wonder if I am coming back for Park or because it sounds like The Knife/Fever Ray?

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.