3 out of 5

Label: Go Funk Yourself Records

Produced by: Justin Stanley

The good news, for those like me who may’ve rolled their eyes at the press for Nikka Costa’s Dirty Disco proposing it as raunchy electro pop – in the same way where Costa was once pigeonholed into the US idol trend of Spears and Aguilera, this sounded like a late(-r) career attempt at grabbing onto a rather dated zeitgeist – well, the good news is that things are delightfully the same as they’ve ever been. Yeah, there’s a full-fledged Prince and 80s soul influence, ported over from Costa’s Pro-Whoa EP, and perhaps a couple of naughty (and clever!) swears and a focus on free love, but all of this is by and large familiar territory: funky production from Justin Stanley adds layers of effects and inventive guitar / percussion stabs to the beats; Costa wrings her pipes at key moments, and offers up some quips on love; and many catchy, funky tunes are delivered.

But, yeah, it’s also pretty much just that: familiar territory. Previously, a long break after Pro-Whoa gave us a covers disc – solid, but inevitably, by its nature, not the most original fare. Disco is an extension of that: almost a return to the safety of Everbody Got Their Something’s more clinical pop, with the restraint of maturity shaving off that album’s edges. This makes DD very focused, and there are certainly some great singles, like the title track, and the playful Unsubscribe, but this is also Costa’s most ephemeral album to date.

That said, she’s such a talented performer, and with such a well-honed relationship with her longtime producer, Stanley, that if Costa wants to only occasionally fan her musical flame with fun if fleeting efforts, I’ll totally take it.