“I don’t know who you’re talking to with such fcuking disrespect.” That’s Alanis’ message to her ex-fiance, actor Ryan Reynolds, from the song “Straitjacket” on her new album. “Flavors Of Entanglement” has completely blown my socks off - there are no other words for it.
So-Called Chaos left me with a bitter after taste - it didn’t deliver, it wasn’t Alanis at her best. The album had its moments, but it was by far the weakest so far, which left me with the scary realisation that for all we knew, Alanis might have lost the magic touch.
But Flavors Of Entanglement, which she co-produced with Bjork and Madonna producer Guy Sigsworth, is nothing short of a rebirth. It combines all that was good about her masterpiece Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie with the musical complexity of Feast On Scraps, with a sauce of the electricity found on Madonna’s Ray Of Light - topped off with the franticness of Bjork’s Volta and Post.
The album opener, “Citizen Of The Planet” is a musical revelation, the chorus will make your heart pounding. The already mentioned Straitjacket should make Scarlet Johansson think twice about her relationship with Reynolds - “I swear you won’t be happy ’til I’m bound in a straitjacket.” It’s not all up-tempo and anger, as the soft melancholy of Not As We and Torch shows the other side of Alanis: touching, emotional, extremely clever.
But most of all, I’m happy Alanis is - again - confident enough to unleash her most powerful weapon: her unrivalled, uncontrollable voice. It weeps, it lashes out, it comforts, it unsettles. I don’t care about all the music, the instruments, the artwork - I’m just happy her voice is back, and I can again enjoy her one-of-a-kind sounds.
I was wrong to doubt her. Flavors Of Entanglement is a masterpiece, no doubt about it. It’s right up there with Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. Absolute brilliance.
Definitely recommended.
