Album Review: Kala Me Impressed

Kala by M.I.A.

2007, Interscope, 12 tracks at 47 min.

Robert Venturi might have been talking about architecture when he said “Less is a bore,” but M.I.A. adheres to the maxim on her latest (and lavishly praised) album Kala. The motherly follow-up to 2005’s masculine Arular, Kala is a world tour in under an hour.

The first track, “Bamboo Banga” provides Kala with a powerful kick start. “Bird Flu” sounds like a crowded Asian marketplace bursting with activity, while “Boyz” is akin to the celebration that follows on the town commons. And “Jimmy,” a Hindi-disco-tinged Bollywood cover, is infectiously danceable.

“Hussel” (with Afrikan Boy) is simultaneously tropical and frightening, immediate and natural. “Mango Pickle Down River” is the album’s slowest, dredging track. However, the addition of rapping Australian boys is certainly original, and it enlivens an otherwise vapid track.

“20 Dollar” is a superb combination of vocoder effects, rough-edged beats and coarse rapping. “Where is my mind?” asks Maya during the song. One certainly won’t find it on the chaotic, abrasively gorgeous “World Town.” But subsequent track “The Turn” restores some stability and sanity to the listener before moving onto the last quarter of the album.

“XR2” is a marching band with more cocaine than a Victorian medicine shop. Proceeding it is the relatively threatening “Paper Planes,” replete with gunshot sound samples and finger snaps. The previous ten tracks guarantee M.I.A. fuses these sonic curiosities into a near-perfect synthesis. The sendoff track, “Come Around” features Timbaland, and it seems mellow, Rihanna-ish even, in comparison to the volatile energy that Kala embodies.

Despite a mild closing track, and a duet with rapping Aborigine boys that fails to dazzle, Kala is both an impressive effort and success. Sassier than the boozing Amy Winehouse and obviously more danceable, Kala is one of 2007’s spunkiest albums. Drenched in political subtlety and amazingly cohesive diversity, Kala is nothing short of brilliant.

RATING: 4.5/5

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