Album Review: Class Actress - Movies

When we were spinning Rapprocher back in 2011, we knew it was only a matter of time before Class Actress became a full-fledged pop star. There's just something magical about the high tension melancholy Elizabeth Harper has on her records. It's a very "this is where I find myself for better or worse" type of approach to love songs that we don't see bared as openly by her competition. Then, accompanied by a brilliant synth pop soundtrack, every one of Class Actress's songs dance and dive into your soul at equal speeds. Well, four years down the road, it has happened! Movies sees Harper jumping to Casablanca for a shimmering, bigger budget entry into a larger pop world. The product of this entry is Movies, a short and sweet concept record with not a minute going to waste. Harper takes her signature sound to Hollywood for a study of the real versus the perceived. She plays around with plenty of cinematic metaphors and motifs, and it all sounds like it came as natural as can be. Night time is Harper's time, and the fleeting hours bring all kinds of adventures in the throes of love.

On Movies, Elizabeth is a leading actress joined by an all star pop cast. While Mark Richardson was her predominant co-conspirator on Rapprocher, here Harper is joined heavily by pop veteran Evan Bogart, probably most famous for his hand in Beyoncé's "Halo". Richardson shows up for "The Limit", easily the most classic Class Actress of the offerings here, but elsewhere, Harper's sound is taken into the stratosphere. Lead single (and likely the best Class Actress single yet) "More Than You" is a pounding disco-tinged wonder with an endless number of quotable, sing-along lines. There's broken-hearted drinking, over-the-top infatuation, and a beg for more hours in the twilight - in other words, pretty much everything we've come to love from Harper in one great four minute push. The newly returned disco veteran Giorgio Moroder lends a hand to "High On Love", keeping the sounds and the sensibility very vintage in nature. Neon Indian's Alan Polomo adds his signature selection of sounds to "GFE", a bouncy chill-wave induced number pops and snaps as much as it grooves. Then, finally, Amy Winehouse collaborator Stefan Skarbek jumps in on the title track to give it all the sultry, slinking seduction it deserves. While her co-producers have their shining moments, it's evident that each and every track is uniquely Harper's creation. This becomes most evident during the last quarter of the record on "Love My Darkness", a track entirely manned by Harper that shows off her divisive cadences in three very distinct production styles. At first, the track is a dark, punchy synth-pop ballad, then transforms into a pounding house track, before slinking back into the dark water with a bit of a hip-hop flair towards the end. Movies isn't long, but every track shows off a different side of Harper's character, an actress full of endless potential, waiting on that starry role wherever it may come.

Speaking of characters, Harper turns the Class Actress tropes up to 11 on Movies. Hollywood is truly the perfect backdrop for the jilted lover with a rough side who gave us Rapprocher tracks like "Prove Me Wrong", "Weekend", and "Hangin' On". "More Than You" and "The Limit" are your standard fare love and miscommunication type tracks, with Harper torn between trusting her instincts and putting hope in a whim. But the backdrop of the city skyline starts to come into view on "High On Love", where the white lines of bright lights start to look like a drug more than an opportunity (as seen on the cover art). The roller coaster of infatuation and crushing depression is only another role to play in this soap opera existence. Harper takes this one step further on "GFE", a track that may have borrowed its title from the Steven Soderbergh directed film The Girlfriend Experience. Here, Harper puts a price tag on her dreams, and thus, also on her ethics. "There's a price for passion", she acknowledges. It's the classic story of the actress getting herself in over her head, and it's a great story arc for Movies, a project in which Harper herself is entering a larger pop fray.

"Everyone I talk to I know they don't hear me", Harper sings on the title track, "everything I do I've learned in the movies. So please forgive me - I just need a reason to stay in the movies". Class Actress has always seen herself through the looking glass to some extent. There's a plot - it's a story as old as time - that always has the same ending, but there's always the hope that you'll be surprised. It's a character that plays well in the pop landscape. Harper owns her actions without question, but also owns the fact that she makes mistakes, has been naive, and that she possesses a darkness. None of this is bad - in fact, it makes Class Actress an altogether more relatable character. And with the Hollywood shimmer that paints self-awareness in an idealistic flair, Movies is the perfect next step for Elizabeth Harper to launch Class Actress a new chapter.

Movies is out now on Casablanca Records. No tour dates have been posted yet, but keep an eye on the Class Actress Facebook page for more news in the future.