Everyone needs a righteous woman in their life. I have one. I live with one. Maybe you don't. Maybe you're living a life devoid of the dignified electricity generated by a feminine presence. It's possible you've done something to deserve such a sad state of affairs. Or maybe it's just bad luck and the planets and other celestial bodies are rotating in a way that makes your aura semi-translucent to people of a certain gender's persuasion. If this is you, and I hope it ain't, but if it is, I hope you're not feeling too sorry for yourself, or else Connie Constance might drop from a helicopter and bullseye some tender part of your anatomy with a six-inch heel. The UK singer released her most recent LP Miss Power into the wilderness of the world, late last year, and she hasn't had time for sad sack shit since. It's a record that has left me with the impression that this particular artist is a genuinely upstanding individual... whose scorn I'd be wise to avoid. Judging from the jettisoning flashbang incendiary packed with rusty nails and whipped cream that is a track like "Kamikaze" even minor infractions could be costly to both my body and pride. But it's not like she's out to get anyone (even if there are some who just need to get got and humbled, for our sake, as well as theirs). Like most of us, she's looking for love in places she hopes are right, hoping her warmth will open blossoms of opportunity, swelling at the touch of perspiration and passion, feelings exemplified by the devotional and undeniably danceable "Til The World’s Awake." But in lieu of such affirmations as affection and amorous returns, or perhaps in tandem, it is clear that she also seeks a courageous centering of self that requires neither facade nor pretext to persevere, a positioning marked out in the central spotlight of the punchy pop-punk infused title-track, the sheer laser cut outlines of "Hurt You," and the slow spreading crimson mood of "Red Flag" which spills over the brim of a cascade, separating as it falls only to bend back towards its sibling stream, like the bowing legs of a dancer in midair, or the two halves of a ribbon under seal which binds a promise and gift made to one's self. Whether solitary or in the embrace of another, she manages to stand tall. Make no mistake, this Ms. is power personified.
