K.Flay - Solutions

Have you had a tough year so far? Stupid question, really - you are a human being currently alive on the planet Earth. Of course, you’ve had a tough year so far. But it’s all going to be okay now. K.Flay is here, and she has ‘Solutions’. Taking cues from hip hop, alt-pop, emo and electro, 'Solutions' explores K. Flay’s recent swagger out of the grasp of darkness.

The record kicks off with a trio of defiant, bright-side bops, the observant self-worth anthem ‘I Like Myself’ and the cheer squad handclaps of ‘This Baby Don’t Cry’ sandwiching fizzing lead single ‘Bad Vibes’. The latter is acid-tongued, tossing out effortless insults like “you’re the sequel that sucks” against a warping industrial beat. But there is tenderness on ‘Solutions’ too, like the bass-y siren-synthed ‘Sisters’, and ‘Nervous’, about being flush with the anxieties of new love.

On top of all that, did you know it’s possible to turn climate change into an ultra banger? ‘Not in California’ sounds like somebody reached down the throat of the theme song from The OC and turned the whole dream inside out. This is cinematic and savage, end of the world stuff. It is hip hop and skate punk and something we are calling ‘Environmental Armageddon Alt-Pop’ (okay, the name needs work). Perhaps more than any other track on ‘Solutions’, it shows K. Flay’s true superpower: to be everything all at once, and be it better than many others. Despite the bleak indictment of our current state, 2019 feels better already.

Liam Konemann