Love songs are two a penny, but it’s rare for them to sound quite as smitten as those on Kali Uchis’s Red Moon in Venus. Instrumental textures melt and shimmer. Pulsing beats and basslines register a heightened sense of time passing, the throbbing of the amorous heart as it pumps its intoxicating feelings through the besotted individual. Extravagant declarations mount up, the desire “to be around you everyday” or “to love you, baby, all to myself”, sweetly sung by Uchis as though in the grip of a divine madness.
This is the Colombian-American singer’s third studio album. The first, 2018’s Isolation, established her as a versatile voice, fluently attuned to an eclectic range of styles. R&B and reggaeton shaded into electropop and hip-hop soul, accompanied by a well-recruited set of guests including Jorja Smith, Tyler, the Creator and Steve Lacy. Its follow-up, 2020’s Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios), concentrated on Spanish-language songs. The Los Angeles-based Uchis, real name Karly-Marina Loaiza, grew up in both the US and Colombia. Her record label objected that the shift to Spanish would limit her audience reach, but it paid off: the album gave rise to her most successful single yet, “Telepatía”.
“Love is the message,” she says of Red Moon in Venus. Rather than succumb to syrupy cliché, the songs bring this well-worn but inexhaustible subject to life with a deft touch. The focus on a single topic, almost in the style of a concept album, also helps to organise her movements between musical genres.
The principal style is soulful R&B, orchestrated with a nicely judged balance between lushness and lightness. Uchis mostly sings in a soft high voice. Her vocals are multi-tracked so that she seems to be shadowing or accompanying herself, which gives her languorous singing a pressing feel. She mainly uses English but occasionally switches to Spanish. There is the odd spot of whistle-singing à la Mariah Carey and some passages of rapping. In “Endlessly”, she captures the irresistibly upbeat essence of 1990s R&B. “Love Between . . .” is a classy exercise in 1960s retro-soul.
Like the romantic symbol in “I Wish You Roses”, there are thorns amid the love songs. “What’s the point of all the pretty things in the world if I don’t have you?” Uchis sings in “Blue”, crooning the phrase with a melodious sigh. Even break-ups can be infatuating in this impressively lovestruck album.
★★★★☆
‘Red Moon in Venus’ is released by Geffen Records
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