Dawn Richard's Armor On EP was an album in all but name, offering as fully-realized an artistic vision as you could hope to emerge from any genre. The trickle of new songs to emerge in Armor On's wake-- the manic yet dreamy "Wild 'n' Young", the Michael Bay special effects balladry of "Pretty Wicked Things", and the luxuriant art-pop of "'86", the first single from her forthcoming debut, GoldenHeart-- casts Dawn as less in tune with the big-chested, neck-snapping attitudes of diva R&B and more like a refugee from a flowery sounds of the late-1980's (think Kate Bush circa "Experiment IV", or Nona Hendryx's Skin Diver). The promise and the risk of Dawn's next step, then, is whether and how she can keep rewiring her sonic and stylistic organs while still capturing the emotive power of classic R&B songcraft.
Whiteout offers a vision of her potential future. A stopgap for her fans while Dawn finalises a distribution deal for her album, the EP feels like reading a gentle epilogue after having skipped the big climax. This is Dawn in full-on mystic mode, as these four new songs offer variations on a fairly precise idea of ethereal electronic pop. The title track, all sighing harmonies and sonar loops, sees her drift further into pure soundscapes than ever before, but the resulting "R&B Enya" effect is more pretty than moving.
Elsewhere, the dusty, tremulous drum & bass pop of "Miles" closely resembles a lost cut from Madonna's Ray of Light. Previously, Dawn and producer Druski understood the importance of retaining the kinetic power of the beats they adopted; on Whiteout, the breakbeats are simply deployed as a pasty gloss for the winsome synth burbles and sweet vocal refrains. "Miles" still works, but it lays bare her aesthetic a little too openly. The constant potential pitfall of genre tourism is spelled out rather more bluntly on the EP's closer, an "EDM Remix" of prior single "December Sky" that sounds exactly how you'd expect from reading the title.
Happily, then, the remaining two tracks are prime Dawn Richard, although not in the exact manner to which we've grown accustomed. "And The Bells" is a hypnotic, mournful ballad that succeeds by accumulation, minor-key melodies and whirring beats and multi-layered vocals weaving in and out of one another to create a building sense of intensity. "Wynter" is even better, an unabashed epic built around gently propulsive dubstep rhythms and gorgeous background sample-stuff oddly reminiscent of defunct Scandinavian balearic outfit Air France, but pushed into stellar territory by the tear-jerking contours of the vocal lines.
Hardly less brave or daring in their sonic wanderings, these two standouts nonetheless confirm that Dawn Richard's curiosity and diligence will always be a good look for her, but forging an emotional connection remains the heart of her appeal-- no matter how unadventurous a goal it may seem.
