SAMANTHA NEWARK

“Music Review: "Hologram" The newest album by Samantha Newark arrives in a flurry of vintage synthesizers, warm vocals, and powerful beats that would make Jem -- the cartoon character Newark voiced in the 80s -- shimmer with pride. With one foot in the past and one in the future, Newark and producer Dave Polich have created an album that truly sounds like a modern-day incarnation of Jem and the Holograms themselves. Newark's liquid, jewel-tone vocal -- aided by a precise sense of phrasing -- flows through the electro/pop/rock/glam sound beds with confidence and precision. Newark and Polich maintain a solid sonic palette throughout the album, keeping grounded in their center while also exploring variations on it, such as in the anthemic "Rain" or the grinding "Freakshow." Opening track "Suga Vice" rings with an echo of Marina and the Diamonds' bratty glam slam, while album highlight "Boy Toys" with its disco-rock beat, horn stabs, and layered vocals sounds like a vintage anime theme song. The album's title track plays with psychidelica, while closer "Ecstasy" is an homage to the chilly Eurohouse that made Ladytron a name. (Both of those last tracks also feature some of Newark's most vulnerable and naked vocals, as well.) If "Hologram" has anything going against it, it's the length of its songs. Most of the tracks are around three minutes or less, and the album itself barely clocks in at 40 minutes total. That means that often the songs are given less room to breathe and evolve. Tracks like "Heartbeat City" build and build with a delicious, organic vibrancy but end far too abruptly. But, like the best of the songs from "Jem", Newark and Polich still make these short songs as catchy and vital as the best pop despite their abbreviated length. Fans of Newark's animated career will find much to love here, with many of the tracks working as shout-outs to classic 80s pop and dance. Newcomers will still appreciate the colorful production and Newark's confident vocals that focus more on solid melodies and less on vocal acrobatics. While the whole project could have been longer, what's here is as striking and memorable as the pink hair of Jem herself.”