After a year spent looking after her newborn baby, Anglo-Sri Lankan controversy magnet Maya Arulpragasm, otherwise known as M.I.A, is to drop her new album, the name of which I think is Maya but is spelled in some bizarre stylized manner which makes pretty much no fucking sense. Two tracks from the album have been released to differing receptions.
Recent single XXXO seems to be another significant step on Maya's journey from underground guerilla-dance oddity to bona fide popstar, the tribal drums and piercing synths combine with her distinctive vocals to create a sound which would not sound out of place on a Britney Spears release. "You want me to be somebody that I'm really not" she hollers repeatedly on a chorus which after a few listens will stamp itself onto your brain and refuse to wash away. "All I know is you leave me wanting more" pines Maya, while also finding space in her story to plug household names such as Twitter, the iPhone and Quentin Tarantino.
Unlike XXXO, Born Free came complete with an accompanying video and in true M.I.A style, courted all kinds of controversy for its depiction of fatties having sex (oh, the humanity!) and the wanton torture of ginger children. For those who haven't viewed it, the video documents a group of hardcore military types rounding up young men of redheaded persuasion and dumping them in a remote desert, where they are ordered to sprint across a minefield. The video's biggest point of contention revolves around the consequences of one boy's refusal to comply with the orders, his punishment making for genuinely shocking and difficult viewing in a time when something genuinely shocking is hard to come by, what with the availabilty on the internet of, amongst many other things, videos of terrorists beheading innocent people in cold blood. Aurally, Born Free is as difficult to listen to as the video is to watch, it is a disorientating mix of marching drums, scattergun vocals and reverb-heavy riffs which seem to intertwine perfecty with the chaotic nature of the video. The fact that it sounds nothing like an M.I.A song is exactly what makes it an M.I.A song. Here is a musician who has never been afraid to experiment and throw something unexpected into the mix and Born Free ticks those boxes perfectly.
I was intending to embed the video, but I've just spent fifteen minutes searching for it and nowhere seems to have an embeddable version of it. Ah well. Here is a link to M.I.A's website where the video can be viewed in its entirety.
The new album drops on July 13th, but this date has changed frequently over the past few weeks so don't be suprised if this turns out to be bullshit. Producers on this album include Rusko, Diplo, Switch and Blaqstarr, which means that this promises to be some of Ms Arulpragasm's best work yet.
Check out M.I.A on Last.FM
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