4 out of 5

Produced by: Justin Stanley, Mark Ronson, Nikka Costa

The trick here was that the major labels came sniffing when Costa’s amazing showcase of energy, ‘Like A Feather,’ was released as a single, and found an artist with boastful music roots – daddy Don Costa was a producer for Quincy Jones, Sly Stone and the like, for goodness’ sake – as well as one with an established following in Australia, where she’d then made her home… and dropped her in the middle of the popstress wave of Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and so on.  If you brushed her off as another pre-packaged project, you weren’t alone.

But all of the fireworks bubbling beneath the surface of ‘feather’ caught my ear, as well as Costa’s look, fiery red hair and direct sass and verve, which might seem the norm now but, again, seemed somewhat unaligned with the clean teen image that was attemptedly bandied about Costa’s supposed peers.

And all of that zest, thankfully, proved to go far past the album’s initial singles.  Costa’s producer husband Justin Stanley and contributor Lenny Kravitz were certainly in line with Nikkas eclectic and rae sensibilities, bringing an intense amount of funk and rock to the album, on notably beat-infused rips like ‘hope it felt good’ and the production wizardry of the explosive Tug of War.

Costa’s soulful yelps are ear candy, but her balladry is just as impressive, able to show impressive restraint that slides into emotional highs and lows on the appropriately titled Push and Pull.

If there’s anything holding the album back, it’s that it was still just the tip of the iceberg.  Whether it was a major label makeover to smooth the edges or simply a stepping stone toward maturity, the album is much glossier than her followups, and is slightly more favorable toward pretty songs over funky ones.  The lyrics – while far beyond the song -song candy of many major label projects – are inventive but somewhat open-ended, mostly, tellingly, concerned with individuality.  An easy comparison point is the title track off her followup, Can’tneverdidnothin’, which hits immediately with a very whipsmart tells-it-like-it-is vibe.

So as you’re coasting back through music history, listening to your Now! collection on repeat, the immediacy of Costa’s contribution might rip you out of the major label doldrums.  Your surprise is well-founded.  This was a real artist, buried amongst all the dolled up ones, and though her following albums surpass this one, it’s still jammed with some amazing songs.