Kinnie Starr

Kinnie Starr is happy again. Since the crunchy and organic collage-folk-pop of 1996’s Tidy, Kinnie has been progressing on a path towards the slicker, more produced trip-hop of her latest disc, Sun Again. Abandoning her near trademark of blunt political metaphors and for the first time, multilingual musings, Kinnie fills the void with a host of collaborators from the West Coast’s hip-hop class list. DJ Murge, Spek, Moka Only and Coco Love Alcorn lend their talents to the best of the group efforts, "E-Merged.” Skip past the uncharacteristically radio-friendly single-in-waiting "Discovered,” which features Kia Kadiri, Chin Injeti, and the latter half of the above mentioned. The change, at times, feels refreshing — as if Starr has let some fat weight slide off her shoulders. Her smooth and seductive resounding purr is still there, dazzling you into a hazy calm. Yet it is difficult not to notice a deficiency where the intimacy of personal politics and the innate passion that followed her past trilingual ventures once excited intellect and packed hefty emotion. Keep faith that Kinnie’s continued evolution will find that perfect reconciliation of the personal and the political.