M.I.A. releases on Tuesday the creatively titled “/\/\ /\ Y /\,” pronounced “Maya.”
TRIVIA: The singer’s last album resulted in the huge, Clash-sampling hit, “Paper Planes.”
STANDOUT: “It Takes a Muscle,” one of the album’s few forays into pop, finds M.I.A. singing that “it takes a muscle to fall in love.”
FANS DIG: Summers abroad.
ANDY SAYS: M.I.A. doesn’t seem bent on winning any new fans with her latest disc of globally minded electronic hip-hop. The singer’s edgy political stances are given prickly musical expression on the 11-track album. While it’s a difficult listen, “/\/\ /\ Y /\” has its rewards, such as the bristly guitar-driven track “Meds and Feds.”
GRADE: B-minus.
Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455; arathbun@heraldnet.com
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