- Since debuting in 2007 as a vocalist on Andy Butler's first Hercules & Love Affair single, Kim Ann Foxman has aligned herself with a certain kind of pop-friendly house music. Her style as a solo artist is often vocal-centric but not necessarily song-oriented, with room for her light, confident voice whether as a hook or a full-on verse. This suits her simple productions, which have largely conjured a classic milieu of dancers voguing along with back-to-basics Chicago sounds. But her rising profile as a DJ and her collaborations with artists like Maya Jane Coles and Heidi have put Foxman in another space, one that has more to do with booming festival stages than smoky warehouses. This is what her new EP, It's You That Drives Me Wild, caters to.
The techy house loops and perfunctory FX comprising these four tracks do little to complement Foxman's strengths as a vocalist and producer. "It's You That Drives Me Wild," a dud of a big room tune, is so enamored with its brooding tension that it never allows the feeling to build or dissipate. (Maya Jane Coles goes for a more playful tone in her remix, but she doesn't treat her one idea any less preciously.) On "Give It All You Got," what starts out sounding like a return to the jacking energy of last year's "Open The House" slips into tedium well before its seven minutes pass. Armed with a 120 BPM breakbeat, some tender pads and a fluctuating acid sequence, "Magic Window" is by far the most sonically interesting part of this EP and a decent DJ tool. Echoing the charismatic "Steal My Secrets" from 2014, "Magic Window" stings as a reminder of what Foxman has long been capable of.
TracklistA1 It's You That Drives Me Wild (Extended)
A2 Give It All You Got
B1 It's You That Drives Me Wild (Maya Jane Coles Remix)
B2 Magic Window