Mark Ronson
made himself vulnerable to new accusations of opportunistic conceptual thievery when he described his fifth album, released within proximity of
Steps
'
Tears on the Dancefloor
and
Camilo Cabello
's "Crying in the Club," as "sad bangers." In the producer's defense, the direction he took here isn't a trend chase. The mode goes back generations, even long before
Ronson
's childhood, when commercial airwaves were pumping out enough aching jams to make a series of mixtapes titled DX7s & Distress. Unlike most of the contemporary artists who use the c-word when promoting a new album,
sees his concept all the way through. He and his shrewdly chosen cast of collaborators -- including ten vocalists, from
Lykke Li
to
Cabello
Ilsey
, all women -- fill out the equivalent of one side of a C90 with a snappy if dispirited set of rhythmic pop-R&B hybrids, all finely glazed. They cover a lonely hearts club Bingo card: insecurity, miscommunication, codependency, grief, withdrawal, imprudent rebounds, the works. Contrary to the mess of emotions, everything else is neatly organized with an uncommon sense of continuity. The album begins in swirling, deceptively festive style with some resemblance to
the Avalanches
Since I Left You
and ends in a soft-pulsing ballad echoing the lyrics of the intro. Three consecutive tracks deploy poised belter
YEBBA
, who makes like an Arkansan
Roisin Murphy
in the heart of the sequence. Almost every other lead performance -- one dejected delight after another -- is worth singling out. Only
Diana Gordon
's striking turn contains promise, but in this context, tears seem inevitable. Whether the sweeping country-disco hybrid "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" would exist without
Kacey Musgraves
' "High Horse" is questionable, but it's undoubtedly a career highlight for
and the featured
Miley Cyrus
. Overall, this is one of
's best works -- a complete pop album. ~ Andy Kellman