CD Reviews

Class Actress | Rapprocher

Carpark (2011)

By MICHAEL MAROTTA | October 19, 2011

3.5 Stars

The rescue of Elizabeth Harper from Brooklyn's singer/songwriter coffeehouse circuit is the modern electro-pop scene's equivalent to Luke Skywalker rolling up to the first Death Star to save Princess Leia in Star Wars: A New Hope. Producers Mark Richardson and Scott Rosenthal re-positioned Harper as the sultry voice capable of melting their ice-cold noir-pop, and soon Class Actress wasn't just a confessional of between-the-sheets retro; Harper was being billed as Brooklyn's new Madonna. Thankfully, that comparison has subsided with the release of Rapprocher — French for "to come closer" — an evolution of the Richardson/Rosenthal stalker-pop synth sound to sharper beats and more decadently vibrant electronic washes. With perhaps the most heavenly voice in music, Harper's angelic sighs, siren calls, and whispers dance over a river of synth churns and sunny girl-pop melodies while her ooh's and ahh's lead the way straight to the bedroom. Rapprocher does what last year's (s)excellent debut EP Journal of Ardency did so well, letting Harper be the pretty face of electronic compositions that, with her aid, become liberating, confident, oozing with inviting overtones. The chillwave-ish "Keep You" sends her falsetto yearning straight to the afterparty at the penthouse suite; "Missed" finds her repeatedly reminding (scolding?) a jilted lover, damn near Fatal Attraction-style, "You're gonna miss me/So bad"; while "All The Saints" is a playful synthpop romp fit for a lovemaking scene in a foreign heist flick. But like any proper lady, Harper maintains seductive innocence under all that morning-after talk and the dinner party text-me-later's, and that's what makes her little black book of lyrics so intriguing. When in "Weekend" she offers, "You make me late for work/Make me late for church," you can't help but smirk. The priest in that confession booth doesn't stand a chance.

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