Lenka

If you tossed Bjork and her edgy pop music into a blender with Jem and her frothy pop music, you'd probably end up with a tall, cool glass of Lenka, a former Australian television actress and member of Decoder Ring.

The Aussie singer's eponymous debut, Lenka, overflows with sugary, pop confections, complete with cavity-causing melodies, bells and Lenka's candied vocals, which are supported by cellos, pianos and light guitars and drums. So if you are looking to dance around the room naked and as though no one is watching, to overdose on a sugar high or to end up with a case of diabetes, don't gorge on sweets. Just toss Lenka onto your iTunes or your iPod and crank it.

Lenka has a sweetly tinny voice that dances over your ears, and she gives off the aura of a sprightly, life-loving and vivacious young girl who never lets anything knock her off course. There's an elation that's omnipresent on Lenka and graceful songs like "The Show," which is currently being used in Old Navy commercials, "Skipalong" and "Don't Let Me Fall" seem to float in the space that they take up. While Lenka isn't as edgy as Bjork, she sure sounds a helluva lot like the Icelandic legend. Lenka's not as frothy as Jem, either, but both of those singers use their dreamy pipes to their advantage. Lenka isn't stomping all over the subversive path a la Katy Perry. Instead, she's laying in a field of roses and cooing ever so sweetly and the universe is certainly large enough for both styles!

"Anything I'm Not," "Knock Knock" and "Dangerous and Sweet" all have the potential to be pop radio hits. And if they don't blow up on the airwaves or appear on TV advertisements, well, they'll still cause your teeth to fall out of you skull because of the syrupy, darling nature of Lenka and her self-titled debut.

— Amy Sciarretto
12.18.08

Those looking to satisfy their sweet-toothed craving for pop music should sink their teeth into this debut, which introduces Lenka as one of the genre's strongest newcomers in 2008. Horns, cellos, violas, keyboards, and vibraphones share equal space here, creating a sound that's at once lushly elegant and bubbly commercial. Having already cut her teeth with the Decoder Ring, Lenka now asserts herself as a competent vocalist and songwriter, penning three of the album's tracks while co-writing the remaining eight. "The Show," "Bring Me Down," and "Trouble Is a Friend" all brim with the cleverly crafted hooks of a Max Martin composition, and Lenka's fondness for internal rhyme helps tighten her phrases into concentrated balls of pop melody. The results are pure radio gold, perhaps alarmingly so, but Lenka's voice helps bring a sense of playfulness to what might otherwise be an exercise in all too perfect pop music. Singing in her endearing Australian accent, she shifts between the breathy sighs of "Don't Let Me Fall" and the measured, innocent confidence of "Like a Song." Quiet piano chords and a sparse trumpet riff provide the instrumental backing for the latter tune, and "Like a Song" shows that Lenka still shines when the thick instrumental padding is stripped away, making this candy-coated debut that much sweeter. ~ Andrew Leahey, All Music Guide