Second Line album cover
Second Line

Dawn Richard

2021
Merge Records

On her sixth album, New Orleans-born Dawn Richard (late of the Diddy-groomed aughties girl group, Danity Kane) embraced EDM as the sonic backdrop to an Afrofuturist narrative centered on her android alter-ego, King Creole. Shades of Janelle Monáe’s The ArchAndroid, the liberation of King Creole is Richard’s metaphor for her own move away from the formulaic, rigid record industry towards artistic freedom and indie-label independence. There’s electronica effects that might be heard in a Star Wars bar (“SELFish”), with lyrics consistent with the concept album (“She not selling records, need help,” says “Radio Free”), but the album’s mostly heavy on the beats per minute. Second Line brings the celebratory N’Orleans tradition of its title into a far-flung future.

Miles Marshall Lewis

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