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 band's singer/multi-instrumentalist
Jean-Philip Grobler
and singer/keyboardist
Patti Beranek
left their longtime Brooklyn home and moved to
Berkanek
's native Germany. It marked a period of slowing down and nesting for the pair, but one that also brought a newfound creativity. It's a feeling that's palpable throughout all of
as
Grobler
and
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 duo's bright vocals as they sing, "Oh, you make me feel/Like this could be the first time, grow another lifeline/In another lifetime, darling, you'd be mine." That the production also evokes the kind of globe-trotting '80s Europop of bands like
Duran Duran
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
ABBA
's "Rocket on My Feet" and "Gimme the Night." While
certainly don't shy away from displaying their influences on
, 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