Staff Reviews

Sky Ferreira - Night Time, My Time

Review by Dave Hanratty

Night Time, My Time stands as vindication for the artist behind it.»

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The long-awaited UK arrival of the debut album from Sky Ferreira, 'Night Time, My Time' on Polydor. Signed at 17 to Parlophone, Ferreira released crisp pop singles like 'One' and 'Obsession' before creative struggles and endless delays brought things to a standstill. Then, out of nowhere, came the twinkling, cooler than thou insouciance of her hit 2013 single 'Everything is Embarrassing', co-written with Dev Hynes, which signaled a sharp leftfield turn and provided the keys to her creative seachange - reintroducing Ferreira as a young woman very much in control of her own off-kilter creative destiny. Rather than being just another docile popstar, this was someone who steadfastly refused to play by the rules, to fit into any easy box, who zigged when others told her numerous times to zag. As a result, 'Night Time, My Time' is Ferreira herself writ large, an intensely personal vision which coalesces her very distinctive tastes into a coherent whole, from her love for artists such as Suicide and Cat Power to counterculture filmmakers like Gaspar Noe (who shot the provocative artwork) and David Lynch (whose film "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" inspired the title track). The album is at once undoubtedly idiosyncratic and - given the protracted recording process - brilliantly cohesive, blazing with fury and defiance throughout. Sparkling pop gems like the grunged up opener 'Boys' and '24 Hours' (with its towering chorus that wouldn't sound out of place over the credits scroll of a John Hughes film) effortlessly soar and glide into the stratosphere. Lead single 'You're Not the One' genuflects towards forebears like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Blondie before Ferreira twists this tale of ill-fated desire to make it uniquely and completely her own. Then there's the slew of songs that Ferreira recorded with producers Ariel Rechtshaid and Justin Raisen mere weeks before delivering the final record - a gloriously revelatory six song set which includes the churning love song 'Heavy Metal Heart', 'I Blame Myself' (which marries the album's simplest melodies and most complex, conflicting sentiments) and the narcotized, emotionally worn title track, which, with its lysergic strings and stinging lyrics like "I'm useless, and I know it" can in many ways be seen as the album centerpiece. Executive produced by Ferreira herself, the remarkable 'Night Time, My Time' is quite unlike any other record you're likely to hear all year, ahead of the curve because it's not aware of the curve and deservedly reveling in critical accolades both here and in the US, where it has been lauded as one of the albums of the year by everyone from New York Times, Spin and Rolling Stone to Pitchfork, Dazed and Confused, Guardian and many more. It is by turns contrary, anguished, lovelorn and loved up, a wild white knuckle ride that could only have come from Sky Ferreira and Sky Ferreira alone.
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