American born, Hong Kong raised, and Paris based 22 year old Uffie, real name Anna-Catherine Hartley, has finally released her superbly named debut album ‘Sex Dream and Denim Jeans’ after first surfacing over five years ago. She started out by appearing on records by several French synth-pop heavyweights that include the fabulous Justice.
After being signed to French label Ed Banger records, they first stated her album was due to be released back in 2007 but hectic travelling, touring schedules, her marriage and divorce to DJ Feadz, and news of her pregnancy delayed the album until now. Her international upbringing is an obviously influence, with French feels on many of the tracks.
The Euro pop sound resonates through your mind and from the first listen this is an instant classic. She is an obvious trail blazer and despite being compare to M.I.A, of which there are similarities, she has enough talent to stand alone. There are also reports that fellow young American pop tart Ke$ha ripped off Uffie, this time however they are not justified, the only similarity I can identify with is the American part, Ke$ha’s music being a comical parody in comparison.
The highlight of the album is definitely ‘MC’s can Kiss’ which was produced with help from label buddy Mr Ozio. Another favourite is ‘Difficult’ that has a ragga spin on her electro sound and the repeating lyric of ‘Don’t worry if I write rhymes I write cheques’ that will be stuck inside you mind for hours.
The album also features cover of Siouxsie and the Banshees popular track ‘Hong Kong Garden’ which sounds even better revamped. Uffie isn’t short of friends in high places with help on several track including, Pharrell Williams on ‘ADD SUV’ and Madonna collaborator Mirwais on ‘Illusion of Love.’ The NME may have given her 0/10 but this album is well worth the 5 year weight with an array of shimmering refreshingly different yet reassuringly catchy tunes.
