Kurstin’s contributions consist mainly of slick, unremarkable guitar and bass and a few bubbly electronic intros.
“Port of Morrow” is a Mercer solo album in everything but name: The original Shins, who gave the group more of its character than is generally acknowledged, are history, replaced by Greg Kurstin, a producer who has worked with everyone from Lily Allen to Ke$ha. He is saved from the dreaded NPR-rock bin by the strength of his melodies - always been some of the best and most acrobatic around. I can keep a straight face for the first half of the six-minute song after that, I'm on the floor in stitches.įunny thing about James Mercer: Even when the Shins singer attempts to go big, he sounds as mannered as a butler in a British sitcom. Whether you find it chillingly effective or inadvertently hilarious will depend on your appetite for death threats from Madonna. The polarizing track here is "Gang Bang," a murky, violent nightmare that attempts to swipe some of Lana Del Rey's homicidal thunder, complete with automobile and munitions noises. She fares no better with trendy dubstep breaks and the rough electro middle-eights every time she dips her toe into those swirling waters, she gets sucked in just like any other stylistic carpetbagger would. on the brainless "Give Me All Your Luvin'â" and the nasty "I Don't Give A" are predictable failures, in part because Madonna does not share the spotlight comfortably. Efforts to cede verses to rappers Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. Yet as it turns out, the ostentatiously hip Madonna is no better at integrating modern sounds and styles into her formula than her fellow '80s pop titans have been.
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