Review by Shannon Shumaker
I haven’t been able to stop listening to K.Flay’s Life As A Dog since the moment I first hit play. While K.Flay would be classified as hip-hop, there’s also a very prominent indie feel to Life As A Dog that makes this album just very unique and interesting to listen to. Just when you think a song is going in one direction, she throws a catchy run into the mix or an eerie, hypnotic chorus that completely changes the mood and keeps you on your toes.
While I wasn’t certain what to expect with this album, it was very apparent within the first minute of “Everyone I Know”, the first track on Life As A Dog, that I was in for a treat. When K.Flay’s vocals come in within the first few seconds, they’re soft but also powerful and, coupled with the mellow baseline, she really manages to pull me right into the song, and then when the chorus hits, I’m in love. After “Everyone I Know” comes “Make Me Fade” and “Can’t Sleep,” which are definitely some of my favorite tracks on Life As A Dog. While “Make Me Fade” has a very eerie, hypnotizing quality about it (similar to The Neighbourhood) “Can’t Sleep” is a more poppy and upbeat track with an explosive and mesmerizing chorus. The two tracks, both incredibly powerful in their own ways, definitely showcase K.Flay’s songwriting ability and versatility, and the other unique songs on this album, especially the darker “Bad Things” and upbeat “Thicker Than Dust”, just drive that point home.
Some of the best parts about Life As A Dog are arguably in the melodic, hypnotic choruses that make the album feel almost surreal, and if that’s not obvious within the first few tracks, then the other songs on the album just prove it. Another strong point on this record are K.Flay’s vocals. While her voice is soft and mellow (and sort of reminds me of Mike Posner at times) she demands attention with her strong lyrics and runs. Though at first, I was worried that this album would be pretty one-dimensional with her vocal style, the unique and hypnotizing songs on Life As A Dog definitely proved me wrong. K.Flay has managed to create an amazing, captivating full-length that doesn’t get old no matter how many times you listen to it, and with each listen it’s easy to find something new and amazing about Life As A Dog that I didn’t hear before.
Review: 4.5/5
Listen to “Can’t Sleep”
Read our interview with K.Flay HERE and check her out on Warped Tour all summer long!