POP/ROCK
Katy B, "On a Mission" (Rinse/Columbia)
To hear what Katy B does so well, dig up "Hold Me," her collaboration with the Count & Sinden from their 2010 album "Mega Mega Mega." The beat is vibrant and sinister, all wobbly bass lines and clanging percussion. But atop it all Katy B sings smoothly and sweetly. Her soft voice turns a challenge into a seduction.
That's what this young singer's been doing for the past couple of years, mostly alongside DJ Zinc and Geeneus, the founder of Rinse FM, the onetime London pirate station gone legit -- ground zero for grime, dubstep and funky. "On a Mission," Katy B's solo debut, takes that crossover even further, turning each of those sometimes abrasive styles into soft beds.
Here she massages the visceral throb of dubstep, and on "Why You Always Here," it's funky, with echoes of its older cousin 2-step garage, that gets finessed. As a singer Katy B knows just how far she can push herself, but sometimes, in seeming sympathy, the production, largely by Geeneus and Zinc, tends softer. But on less challenging songs like "Go Away" and "Disappear," that leaves her with less to do, and it shows.
If Katy B were a more dynamic songwriter, it would help, but she can be wordy. And sometimes she's inflecting more than singing, especially when she slips into fake patois, as on "Hard to Get." The contrast is starkest on "Lights On," a duet with Ms. Dynamite, who knows how to laser-target her melodies. Here she fires darts, while Katy B glides in afterward to smooth over the damage.
JON CARAMANICA,
NEW YORK TIMES
Tori Amos, "Night of Hunters" (Deutsche Grammophon)