Lafawndah – “Ally” (Singles Going Steady)

Chris Ingalls: I like the boldness, the exotic arrangements. It sounds like little else out there (although she could be M.I.A.’s more serious cousin). Works well as a dance song, but there’s also a maturity underlying the whole thing. [7/10]

Emmanuel Elone: “Ally” is a track like no other. Strange, exotic wind instruments echo and float across the song, and the pop, slightly reverb-heavy vocals envelop the acoustic noises in the background. Maybe it’s a bit too creative and experimental for some, but Lafawndah does a good job with making it somewhat accessible through the rhythm and tempo. At the very least, it makes for an intriguing, enthralling listen that no other song could ever replace. [6/10]

Chad Miller: “Ally” excites with its unpredictability, and while the track doesn’t always go where you want it to, an excellent beat strings it all together. The instrumental melody doesn’t always fit the track, and the vocal filter seems a bit off, but other than this the track has plenty to offer. [7/10]

Pryor Stroud: Equipped with discordant woodwinds, whirlpooling bass, and split-personality tribal drums, “Ally” could be characterized as a female Petite Noir song, but Lafawndah pushes the “noir wave” sound to a tempo that exalts mania as a virtue. She weaves little sound effect oddities — down-the-fire-escape skitterings, alien radio signals — into the polyrhythmic backdrop behind her, giving the track multiple sonic floors for her to ascend to and descend to at will. In short, it’s demented, but all the more enjoyable because of it. Think of it as an artifact from a speculative alt-pop universe, wherein Nicki Minaj becomes trapped in one of her short-lived, one-verse alter egos, collapses into psychosis, and then fights her way back to stardom after embracing her new psychotic reality as the only reality really worth living. [6/10]

SCORE: 6.50