CD reviews: M.I.A. /\/\/\Y/\

As a cut-and-pasted AIM chat window on the liner notes suggests, M.I.A.’s third LP, /\/\/\Y/\ reckons it might be ‘like, punk for 2010, yeah?’ Actually, the Sri Lankan-born, London-raised Mathangi Arulpragasam does have a bit in common with the Sex Pistols: a well-developed disdain for authority; an eye for iconoclastic fashion; a celebrity born as much from hype as talent; the influence of domineering producers and industry goons in the wings; and a raw, hugely influential and, let’s face it, fun first album.

Unfortunately, what the M.I.A. of late most shares with John Lydon is an unmatched ability to talk out of her arse. /\/\/\Y/\ opens with the suggestion that “the headphone’s connected to the iPhone, iPhone’s connected to the internet connected to the Google connected to the Government,” which is about as insightful as Ted Stevens comparing the web to a “series of tubes”.

But whatever. If you go to a pop singer for your political theory you probably deserve to go up against the wall; she can say whatever she pleases so long as she bring the beats.

On /\/\/\Y/\, M.I.A. breaks the contract. Where Kala was a wonky assemblage of found samples, blocky beats and familiar refrains recast into something wildly new, /\/\/\Y/\ is an ugly, ungainly mess.

‘Tell Me Why,’ written with frequent collaborator and ex-boyfriend Diplo, attempts to echo the success of ‘Paper Planes’ with a chanting choral section and a marching drum, but it serves only to remind you how much you’d rather be listening to that earlier track.

Producer du jour Derek E Miller contributes what could be the worst track on the album, ‘Meds and Feds’, a crass grunge eyesore.

Some tracks disappoint all the more for coming close but dropping off. ‘XXXO’ is built on a kind of grim Madonna funk but is too sluggish to really enjoy; ‘Tequila’ gets closer to the shuffling bump of ‘Bird Flu’ or ‘Galang’, exhibiting some encouraging dynamic range with squarish bass and some pinching high-end, but it feels somehow unfinished.

The only real gem is ‘Born Free’, the cantankerous lead single by Diplo and Switch that gleefully nicks the riff from Suicide’s ‘Ghost Rider’, straps on a drum sample that sounds like someone shooting a bandsaw and then plays it through a telephone.

‘Born Free’ is unlike anything M.I.A.’s ever done, and the fact it’s so good demonstrates the problem with /\/\/\Y/\ isn’t that it’s radically different, but rather that it lacks the conviction to be so. TG

Sound: 3

Music: 2