Album Assessment: Sergey Lazarev ~ Electric Touch (and how the French got pop oh so very right)

I am assuming that Sergey is focusing completely on the Russian market to begin with as he launches his latest album Electric Touch on the world. I seriously had to enlist the services of a Russian Orthodox priest I know to get me a download copy of the album. Of course, as soon as I had entrusted all my financial details to some website that for all I know is robbing me of my identity as I type (how do you know this is even me typing?!), it popped up on several fileshare type websites! Typical. Still it's a fairly decent album and here are some initial thoughts on it...

Electric Touch: It's been quite a long time since Sergey's rather charming album TV Show. Tracks like Everytime and his cover of Shattered Dreams were quite lovely nuggets of bloke pop, tinged with underlying club grooves. Since then, there's been a couple of club stompers (both of which make the album) and even the Russian version of High School Musical. Sergey has gone for a more in your face 'banging' club approach with this album, with the pop elements added later. For the most part, it works although it's very Lord Gaga sounding and some parts are overly vocodered. Leadoff single, Alarm, was vaguely disappointing to start with - it's a rather generic, albeit quite good, cascada-esque track. It does have, however, a rather storming chorus and the visuals from performances help the track immensely. The title track continues in a similar vein and has some rather good 'hey's in the chorus that always work for me, as well as stuttering the tou-tou-touch just like Kylie did with "i-i-i wouldn't change..." Definitely worth a few minutes of your time, and potentially a future single. There's more of the same with Money on Love, She Said and Slo Mo (not an ode to a gay who can't run very fast). It's not that the songs are bad - they are not. They are catchy, fun and memorable, yet they have no distinctive personality that makes them definitely Sergey. It could be anyone performing this tracks ~ at times, it is a bit soulless and that doesn't make the tracks less poptastic, but it does halt them from ascending to greatness. Luckily the very lovely indeed piano ballad Emotions is just around the corner. Sergey delivers an emotive vocal performance over a pretty melody, some melancholy strings and a genuine passion that reminds of the greater pop moments on TV Show - and is a little reminiscent of the start of Earth Song (which Sergey has performed in the past). Although it's not similar at all to Simon Curtis' 8BitHeart track, it has that potential to explode as a much covered song in the future. Ever so heavenly and a much needed human injection to the album...

Lazerboy has been around for a while and yet remains one of the strongest tracks on the album. Quirky, clever chorus and the "say ooo" snippets make it ever so slightly novelty, but not too comedic. The production is spot on too - it doesn't go too far in order to beef the song up, it relies on the little gimmicks and catchiness of the tune to carry it through. And carry it, it does. Rather good. She Is is one of the more pop tracks on the album - ever so slightly reminiscent of a more daring Westlife track had they popped to the studio and accidentally loaded the backing track to JLS' One Shot and tinkered with it a little bit! Plus once again it shines above other tracks for allowing Sergey to be the central focus of the track. Talking of JLS, Heartbeat is reminiscent of their Beat Again via One Republic - I wrote about this song a while back and it's grown on me a lot since then. Sexy Automatic is back to the more generic sounding current trend type track, although I do appreciate the slightly dirty lyrics ("got you down on your knees"!) Luckily there's a couple more corkers rounding the album off. Another old-ish track Stereo is given a bit of a reworking and now is called the HarDrum version. It's the spiritual successor to the theme of his TV Show album and the million-miles-an-hour delivery of lyrics like "Catch me on YouTube, on MySpace, on Facebook/Download on ITunes, your Ipod, your IBook/Got no limits, got to be/What you want me/To be your everything" are wonderful little additions that make the song super. Finally, Instantly is another beautifully performed ballad that reminds how charming Sergey can be when he wants to be. The vocal is pure, his emotions are laid bare for the world to hear and the protracted elegant melody all work to make this a really lovely tune.

Overall, it's an album with some great pop-club tracks that mostly make for a enjoyable listen. It's the ballads and the more "pop" tunes where Sergey's personality shines through that elevates the album (in places) to greatness and I'd like to hear more of this in the future...
Potential singles: Lazerboy, Stereo, Alarm, Electric Touch, Instantly, Emotions

If you like this, you might want to check out:

• Quentin Mosimann ~ Exhibition: An album that is as colourful, addictive and alluring as it's cover. Though it's mainly in French, it's a pop triumph of catchy tunes, inventive samples and delicious beats. Toc Toc is a fresh and witty lead off single, while Gimme A Break continues that theme with it's funky vibe and giant singalong chorus all to an enticing back beat that doesn't seems familiar yet new all at the same time - no mean feat. I Love I Love and Golden Boy continues with these enticing pop thumpers, and the energetic delivery & great production keeps it from getting repetitive or stale. There are ballads too (the lovely You Will Recognise & I See The) which give a change of pace and a chance for some seductive vocals from Quentin. Gainsbourg Zero-Ten closes the album with a lovely classical music sample running through the track - it caps off a lovely rhythmic, quirky, off the beaten pop track album that is full of sensuality and wit (if my french translations can be trusted). Highly recommended :)
• Christophe Willem ~ Cafeine: The French have absolutely got it going on at the moment with their inventive pop matched by lovely cover art (compare Christophe and Quentin's to Sergey's nice but mismatched "serious rock artist" pose!) Christophe (currently having his French tour put together by the wonderful Steve Anderson) is part Robbie, splash of Kylie and a smattering of Madonna all wrapped up in an unusual but wonderful big bow. From the dreamy album opener (L'Homme En Noir), the stage is set for something a little bit different - there are atmospheric chillouts with tracks like Yaourt and Lavabo, Fragile and a lovely piano-vocal moment Si Je Tombais. There's also the heavenly Entre Nous Et Le Sol which is a lovely laxidaisical pop gem. This is mixed with more creative pop like his duet with Kylie on the bi-lingual Sensitized, an homage to Prince on the funktastic Trash and the lovely straightforward pop epic Heartbox, sung in English and a definite summer smash. The album is bold and experimental (check out Coffee!) and perhaps not instantaneous enough for today's demanding market, but it is so rewarding on multiple listens that you can't help but be dragged into loving it and returning to it often. Vive La France! (read my initial thoughts on Quentin and Christophe here)