Kirin J. Callinan is back with the follow-up to 2013’s Embracism, and it’s as about as left of field as you might expect. However, not in quite the same way.
Bravado sees him abandon his guitar-focused inner musings for an electro-heavy album brimming with thumping basslines and twisted pop hooks. It’s a unique blend of ’80s soft rock, sentimental love ballads, pounding EDM, minimalist funk and a whole lot of Kirin J. Callinan (oh yes, and a section of gut-wrenching screams care of Jimmy Barnes).
Callinan’s vocal delivery stays weird and seems to act as just another vessel for his experimentation and own brand of out-of-the-boxery; half sexy, half gruesome, like some perverted Nick Cave impersonator. Unfortunately, the new approach is not a comfortable fit. While the collaborations may be plenty, the lyrics humorous and the ideas adventurous, a sizeable portion of the music on this album is just not that good. The tacky electronic beats that dominate the record force you to consider the possibility that they are all in fact making fun, until you realise that there are too many of them for this to be the case.
Callinan has an unashamedly unique persona about him and unbounded creativity to match, which you have to give him points for, but on this occasion he’s channelled his energies in ineffective directions.
Bravado is out now through EMI.
