Utopia

Coming off a year of tumultuous change, St. Lucia deliver their fourth album, the hooky and uplifting Utopia. In 2021, with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging and on the heels of welcoming their second child, the bands singer/multi-instrumentalist Jean-Philip Grobler and singer/keyboardist Patti Beranek left their longtime Brooklyn home and moved to Berkaneks native Germany. It marked a period of slowing down and nesting for the pair, but one that also brought a newfound creativity. Its a feeling thats palpable throughout all of Utopia as Grobler and Berkanek toil with the isolation the pandemic wrought, but also the opportunity for a greater intimacy and closeness with loved ones. The sentiment is particularly redolent on "Another Lifetime," in which pulsing synths and an insistent groove work as a clubby framework for the duos bright vocals as they sing, "Oh, you make me feel/Like this could be the first time, grow another lifeline/In another lifetime, darling, youd be mine." That the production also evokes the kind of globe-trotting 80s Europop of bands like Duran Duran and Tears for Fears feels unabashed. Similarly evocative is "The Golden Age," a Latin-inflected groover whose funky bass and shimmering chorus harmonies sound impressively like a mash-up between George Michael and the Commodores. Elsewhere, the duo conjure the fluorescent disco of ABBAs "Rocket on My Feet" and "Gimme the Night." While St. Lucia certainly dont shy away from displaying their influences on Utopia, they also sound relaxed and assured of their own musical identity, a confidence born out of change. As they sing on the closing "Hey Now," "Well, it only takes a second to fall/But it only takes a minute to start over again." ~ Matt Collar