Album Review: Kira Puru – Self-Titled (2018 EP)

If you haven’t heard any of Kira Puru‘s music, exactly how big is that rock you’re hiding under? Her single “Molotov” has had a lot of airplay on Triple J, and her undeniably cool ‘Like A Version’ performance of Katy Perry‘s “Last Friday Night” is what dreams are made of. Her debut self-titled EP contains the aforementioned “Molotov”, as well as four other certified bangers.

“Tension” is the first track. Puru’s vocals match the sentiment of the lyrics, and changes her tone accordingly. In the verses, she is reassuring with the lyrics “You’re telling me more than you realize, I’m comfortable, why you gotta play like you don’t know?” but the lyrics in the bridge and chorus are more direct, “Is there something on your mind? Where there’s smoke there’s fire. Can you feel this tension?” as is her tone. The instrumentation follows her lead, minimal in the verses, but funky and built up with a killer bass line, drums, guitar, and a bell sound in the bridge and chorus.

“Say Something” starts similarly as she demands honesty from someone undeserving of her charms. This song came to me while I was in my own no man’s land of dating-but-not, and the lines “Boy you were lucky to have tasted my love, to be honest I was shocked that you could give this up, I don’t to want to want the closure that I ask you for but I’m done, I’m moving on, oh I’m gone,” really resonate. It sums up modern dating perfectly, without resorting to self-pity.

“Molotov” is in its own league. Not just on this EP, but in general. Who else makes a song about getting wasted and dancing sound this damn good? The opening lines “I take a whiskey neat, chase it with a gin and juice, I just can’t control my feet when I get a little bit loose,” will make you want to listen to this on repeat while you pre-drink and put your makeup on for a night out… Or maybe that’s just me. The chorus is so damn catchy that after I played it for my colleagues who had never heard it, one was singing “I’m a ma ma ma ma Molotov!” to herself all afternoon. The message of this track is clear: she’s the HBIC* and you’d be lucky to party with her. If she turns up to grace you with her presence, you’d better step aside boy, watch and learn.

“Fly” is flirtatiously metaphoric, with the lines “Brace yourself, put on your seatbelt, cos it’s gonna be a bumpy ride,” and “Take your seat row 69,” even though Puru herself declared the song is about flying, nothing else (sure, Jan). This is the most energetic track on the EP – not that the others aren’t – but the quicker tempo from start to finish is definitely noticeable against the slower, sexier tempos of the first three tracks.

“Alone” features a larger vocal range from Puru, starting in a lower register in the verse and reaching an almost falsetto in the chorus as she sings “Dance all night, the only way I know, don’t get tired of the same old songs,” and punctuates her lines with a high-pitched “woo!”