Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Make A Scene

THE REVIEW

Once the desire for eclecticism is exhausted and the sonic "fritto misto" put aside with the good "Trip The Light Fantastic", Sophie Ellis-Bextor, definitively relegated to an uncertain indie future, distanced (herself) from the overwhelming power of capital-grabbing majors, decides to make a significant leap back to her first and great love, namely the 80s dance.

"Make A Scene", released last year, gathers within itself the most composite and varied archetypes of the best eighties electropop tradition, an authentic post-modern tribute to evergreen sequins and that atmosphere of carefree jovial cheer typical of a decade with infinite hues. Although inferior in experimentation, richness and heterogeneity to the maturity of "Trip The Light Fantastic", the fourth (and currently last) studio album by Bextor maintains the straightforward simplicity of her previous ones, without dissipating into the chaos and extravagances of today's (and heavily inflated) dance trend.

The opening track, Revolution, is without a doubt a sort of "recap of previous episodes", a clear resonance to the sexy and kitsch disco-dance of the ancestral Murder On The Dancefloor and Get Over You carefully revisited for the occasion; the first single Bittersweet follows, a nostalgic ballad that is impossible not to trace back to the most genuine '80s electropop dance tradition of artists and/or bands like Frankie Goes To Hollywood, the Australian Queen of Disco Kylie Minogue, or the charming Bananarama. The playful funky synth carousel in Off And On and the pure retro dance-romantic expression of Starlight and Synchronised are also enjoyable.

With Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer) the explosive desire for sparkling sequins and multicolored leotards reemerges, launched into a dance floor more evergreen than ever, the kind that Sophie already brought out from mothballs with the triple hits from her very first Read My Lips. And the desire to shake it without regrets continues unabated in the blend of auto-tune and electronics of the mischievous and slightly dark Under Your Touch, in the "off-key" quirks wavering between trumpets and disco basses in the title track Make A Scene, as well as in the dance revival triumph offered by Dial My Number.

Included in the album are also the more "contemporary-inspired" Not Giving Up On Love and Can’t Fight This Feeling, works respectively by the famous Dutch DJ Armin Van Buuren (also featured in his album Mirage) and the Parisian Junior Caldera. Both tracks, although sweetened with today's "cheesiness" all this homage to the Eighties, fit perfectly with the disco atmosphere of the record.

Nowadays, DJs and similar have heavily inflated musical genres that have always been appreciated and experimented with (appropriately) like electropop and dance, and it seems that the trend in clubs for extra pumped-up beats and synthetic mixes does not cease. Here you have an album imbued with the simplicity and sobriety typical of the most traditional Sophie Ellis-Bextor, danceable enough to transport you to the sparkling world of the most 80s Saturday nights on the face of the Earth.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Make A Scene.

Revolution - Bittersweet - Off And On - Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer) - Not Giving Up On Love - Can’t Fight This Feeling - Starlight - Under Your Touch - Make A Scene - Magic - Dial My Number - Homewrecker