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Witness: Perry snores; Schnabel scores

Album cover for Katy Perry's "Witness"
Album cover for Katy Perry's "Witness"

D Katy Perry

photo

Album cover for Micah Schnabel's "Your New Norman"

Witness

Capitol

She once roared. But now, we'll just call it meowing.

Katy Perry, one of the top voices in contemporary pop over the last decade, limps into her fourth album with a collection of songs that don't have a cohesive feel or message. It's a random hodgepodge of tracks that don't spark or shine. Some of the tunes are cute, but most are forgettable.

Vocally, she doesn't sound inspired or inspiring. And while Witness isn't expected to be the year's best album, what was expected was some fun, killer pop hits.

Lead single "Chained to the Rhythm" is watered-down reggae pop without any real reggae flavor, and the current single, the Nicki Minaj-assisted "Swish Swish," is a miss-miss.

Witness is Perry's first album without mega-producer Dr. Luke, who is currently at war with pop singer Kesha over sexual abuse claims (he denies her allegations). Max Martin, Dr. Luke's former mentor, is still present, along with Sia, Jeff Bhasker and DJ Mustard.

But none of them come to Perry's rescue. The beginning of "Hey Hey Hey" sounds like "Dark Horse," Perry's last No. 1 hit, and the hook echoes Avril Lavigne. "Bigger Than Me" comes off like a leftover track from her 2013 album, Prism. The title track is a bore.

Perry finds the right momentum on the dreamy "Tsunami," produced by Mike Will Made It; "Bon Appetit" is upbeat and catchy; and "Power," with few lyrics, is a shining effort thanks to multi-instrumentalist Jack Garratt's layered, experimental sound.

But overall, Witness and its awkward songs fall short. It is also the first time Perry is launching an album without a monster hit behind her.

"Swish swish bish/Another one in the basket," she sings. Witness is more like an air ball.

Hot track: "Tsunami"

-- MESFIN FEKADU,

The Associated Press

B+ Micah Schnabel

Your New Norman Rockwell

Last Chance

This thing is a downer, and Micah Schnabel seems to know it -- one of the songs is called "Oh, What a Bummer."

Schnabel, the singer-guitarist for Columbus, Ohio, bar band champs Two Cow Garage is a parking lot poet from the America of strip mall vape shops, payday loan stores, poverty and random violence. On this latest solo outing -- his fourth, including two LPs and an EP -- he's not only looking outward, but inward as well, and he's not comfortable with either view.

He has a wicked way with a hook, perhaps even more in his solo work than with the feisty Two Cow. Check the shimmering shuffle of "Hello, My Name Is Henry," the toe-tapping drive of "Jazz and Cinnamon Toast Crunch" and the folky Bob Dylan homage on the title track.

Schnabel does more talking on this record, similar to what Craig Finn does in the tunes of The Hold Steady, and the results can sound like a therapy session with himself. There are times, too, when his ideas outrun his melodies, when there are too many words for the verse but he's breathlessly determined to squeeze them in, like someone at a podium getting the bum's rush. And he can veer toward self-righteous fury, as on "These Divided States," another Dylan nod.

But he has a lot to say, and unlike Finn, whose songs often are based on fictional characters with detailed back stories, it's hard to imagine Schnabel isn't speaking of anyone but himself on tracks like the tender, self-lacerating "American Throw Away" -- sample lyric: "I don't have anything resembling beauty inside of me."

None of this should come as a surprise to those who have followed Schnabel, who records for Little Rock's Last Chance Records. His songs often revolve around similar themes of desperation and seeking solace in art and gritty determination, but he sounds particularly vulnerable on Your New Norman Rockwell. You want to give him a hug and then listen to the record again.

Hot tracks: "Jazz and Cinnamon Toast Crunch," "Cash 4 Gold," "The Interview," "Cincinnati, Ohio," "Hello, My Name Is Henry"

-- SEAN CLANCY,

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

B Pokey LaFarge

Manic Revelations

Rounder

Modern troubadour Pokey LaFarge has an old-time band, out-of-time sounds and themes ageless and current.

LaFarge's voice is high in the mix and it is as unaffected as it is clear.

He is backed by the Southside Collective, a band whose many resources -- including the tubax (a Paul Bunyanesque saxophone) and stylophone, a small keyboard that looks like an answering machine -- is at the service of American sounds, from soul and swing to country blues.

"Riot in the Streets," LaFarge's take on the aftermath of the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in a suburb of his hometown of St. Louis, may distract a bit from the narrative but the singer's sincerity keeps sentiments focused.

"Better Man Than Me" concedes that sleeping all day and playing his "sad songs" all night won't help him get the girl of his dreams.

"Going to the Country" and "Bad Dreams" are about getting away, whether just out of town or far across the world, while "Silent Movie" is plain reclusive.

Manic Revelations is an album of honest sounds and attitudes and LaFarge is its candid interpreter.

Hot tracks: "Riot in the Streets," "Better Man Than Me"

-- PABLO GORONDI,

The Associated Press

Style on 06/20/2017

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