Louisiana born singer/songwriter Mikky Ekko makes some serious sounds on his first full-length album, Time.
His type of pop music is left of centre and reaches for inspired love songs and brooding abstract emoting.
He came to international attention when Rihanna covered his song Stay, and added several notches of integrity to her career.
Ekko’s delivery and persona are sensitive and creative, and his album is full of songs that carry the hint of tension. That’s due to an element of surprise and intense mood shifting. Of course, having a team of nearly two dozen producers contributes to this but they seem to be roped into providing focus for Ekko’s expressive drama balladry which translate into richly textured mini passion plays.
The cinematic scope of the material rescues it from the realm of seriousness and maudlinism, although melodrama is a strong character (Mourning Doves, Made of Light).
The abstract sound that Ekko cultivates on Time is different from that chased by many of his contemporaries. It stays close to a shivery style of ballad-rock that results from Ekko’s minor tinged vocals and from there to electronic mood enhancement.
Time is a recording that has a strong ambiance and a bittersweet undercurrent (Burning Doves). It doesn’t have the beguiling force of Ekko’s dark collaboration with Rihanna on Stay but that is due to the sometimes diffuse production of the recording.
He sounds like there is much on his mind and Time isn’t a light album.
– Dean Gordon-Smith is a Vernon-based musician who writes about new music releases for The Morning Star.
