Before she reimagined herself as an authorial queen of outsized pop anthems, Sia made her name back in the early 00s singing on blunted downtempo jams like Zero 7s Destiny (forever watching porn in her hotel dressing gown), then made it again on her parched, purring, brink-of-a-bad-trip solo ballad Breathe Me, which wound up scoring the gorgeous, cast-extinguishing finale of Six Feet Under. Branded as LSD and wrapped in Peter Max-y graphics, her latest project might suggest a throwback chill-room journey especially given the participation of Diplo, a longtime dub scholar (his remix of Sias Clap Your Hands is among his more mind-bending efforts) and Labrinth, the rising UK soulman who seems able to vibe with pretty much anyone, anywhere.
As it turns out, LSD isnt especially psychedelic, at least by old-school definitions. But it does function as an off-brand license for three big-box pop stars to trip out. And while the songs arent top-shelf Sia, for a session that comes across more like an arcade game than a coherent album, thats fine. (In fact, the group had an online video game developed as part of the project.) The LP begins with a robotic introduction, Labrinths doo-wop fractals, and Sia screaming Im here on Venus! Then Diplo drops a moderately filthy bassline, and its off to the races. Theres a fleeting, David Gilmour-ish electric guitar flourish; otherwise, its mostly standard issue synth-pop, pumped through an ion storm of pitched-up vocal fragments, percussion shrapnel, and 8-bit bleep-blorp.
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The tastiest jam is Thundercloud rocksteady bounce, vintage reggae brass, Sias digitally-sputtered swoops, and Labrinths croons of All I need is love (the Beatles references continue in the video, with Diplo, animated Yellow Submarine-style, driving a Magical Mystery Tour bus). The vocal chemistry between Sia and Labrinth is playful and sexy and occasionally generates sparks; see No New Friends, a courtship duet for CBD cocktails. In fact, the albums main charm is as a duet vehicle, a tradition that modern pops endless loop of solipsism seems to have little use for think Otis Redding and Carla Thomas King & Queen, Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoners Porter Wayne and Dolly Rebecca and, if you must, Gaga and Tonys Cheek To Cheek. Labrinth and Sia camp it up for Genius, she name-checking Galileo, Einstein and Steven Hawkins in praising his wisdom for loving a woman like me; Sia even busts some operatic aria moves, pitched up into Merry Melodies territory, amidst some high-court chamber-music strings. Since LSD couldnt squeeze a tenth song out of the project, they end the record with a Genius remix, Lil Wayne reordering the alphabet to chant the groups name. Its fun enough, like the rest of the set, but given the moniker, its not unreasonable to have expected something a little more profound.