Desire – There’s A Party Over Here

Desire – There’s A Party Over Here / 2006 Self / 24 Tracks / http://www.ilovedesire.com / Reviewed 28 September 2006

I don’t really understand why an unknown singer needs a two disc set right off the bat. Perhaps if Desire could use the twelve strongest tracks on the disc, the resulting album would be much strong. However, that’s not what ey does, and songs like “Can Anybody” feel like they should have been left on the cutting room floor. At the best, they still need some massive re-tooling to be serviceable songs. There are songs that seem like they may have some talent hidden in them (“Deal With It”), but there is something or a collection of some things that hold Desire from succeeding. In “Deal With It”, the instrumentation is interesting but the almost-whispered vocals of Desire do not have the energy to drag the track to its inevitable conclusion.

Another issue that one can immediately see with Desire’s “There’s A Party Over Here” is that ey puts one of eir longest tracks almost at the beginning of the disc. While some artists can keep individuals interested enough to merit a longer track, Desire does not have enough gas in eir tank to keep things interesting throughout. Again, the instrumentation is light years beyond the vocals that present themselves during the track. Perhaps most embarrassing here is the call and response section of this track, which has Desire list a number of things along with different (most the time) unrelated noises. When Desire tries to show eir “hard” side, as is the case during “Do You Really Wanna Piece of Me?”, it is perhaps as ill-fitting as Shaq’s brief foray into rap music. Oh, and the random noises that do not make anything tin the way of sense are present during this track as well. If the instrumentation was taken from all the tracks of “There’s A Party Over Here”, and given to rappers and other dance artists to work over, Desire could be said to have a hit on eir hands.

It is the vocals that time and time again hold what is interesting arrangements back from much in the way of success on this disc. Hopefully Desire can add a little intensity and energy to eir voice for the next disc, and leave out a number of songs and just focus on filling up one, instead of two, discs. I don’t know what the market for this CD would be, but approach at your own peril.

Top Tracks: Gentle As Babes, Surrounded

Rating: 1.8/10

[JMcQ]