Kylie Minogue brings pure, unadulterated fun with (Infinite) DISCO
One of the few upsides to 2020 is that it brought a proper disco revival with perfect throwback records by artists like Dua Lipa and Jessie Ware. Australian pop super star Kylie Minogue, who has already incorporated disco into her sound in multiple phases in her career, must have realized how badly in need of some uplifting and unadulterated fun records we are, when she started to create her fifteenth studio album DISCO and the accompanying livestream performance Infinite Disco. Both areswinging joyrides from start to finish.
Minogue kicked off the era back in July, when the uplifting and hopeful first single ‘Say Something’ was released, her first new material since 2018’s country inspired album Golden. She followed up with tracks like ‘Magic’ and ‘I Love It’, which both capture the disco essence in a Kylie manner with ear worm hooks and swinging productions. Both are highlights and great representations of what the rest of the album has to offer.
The standard edition which has twelve songs is basically all killer, no filler (the deluxe version has four more songs added and things do get a bit forgettable towards the end there). Every single tune has a chorus with the potential of immediately taking over your brain and the record never feels samey or repetitive as Minogue’s take on disco is broad and every song has its own little groove going on. ‘Monday Blues’ takes you straight back to the seventies with a bonkers, campy Soul Train vibe, while ‘Supernova’ has a bright and shining chorus which contrast with distorted Daft Punk like vocals in between.
‘Miss A Thing’ is a sultry anthem with lush vocals that would have fitted right in with Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia and had been all over the radio this year if it were. The slick bop that is ‘Real Groove’ serves a funky bass line throughout with an impeccable chorus taken to the next level by outrageous vocal effects. If anyone was still in their seats halfway through the record, the chorus of ‘Last Chance’ just begs you to get up and twirl around your room. By the moment the beat kicks in for the chorus, the track goes all the way off and doesn’t come back down after that.
Although Kylie is not able to tour right now, she gave her fans an experience as close to a concert as possible with Infinite Disco, a 50 minute long one-take performance with tracks taken from the new record as well as some of her classics. The whole show was beautifully produced with a bunch of dancers, slick choreography, a dancefloor that lights up and beautiful light shows. She gave new life to hits like ‘In Your Eyes’ and ‘Slow’ (mixed with Donna Summer’s ‘Love To Love You Baby’) with DISCO-fied arrangements, while ‘All The Lovers’ and ‘Say Something’ sounded divine, performed by Minogue and a choir. For ‘Light Years’ (title track of the 2000 album) she did a fabulous laser light performance and ‘Magic’ proved to be a euphoric confetti-in-the-air closing number.
Kylie Minogue knows exactly how to lift the spirits of us pop lovers with this record and the performance. It is not only nostalgia in terms of the disco sound, but also in the sense that it is a proper party album while most of the world can’t really enjoy a night out at the moment because of the pandemic. With Infinite Disco she gave me the closest I get to a night out and I thoroughly enjoyed that and will keep DISCO on repeat for the weeks to come to keep my spirit high during another lockdown period!