On first listen, I did not enjoy Phebe Starr’s 2019 EP, Ice Tea Liberace. Pretty Little Liars vibe, I typed into my notes app. Lykke Li? Idk…
Then I listened to the EP a second time as I drove through California towards Los Angeles (incidentally, where Starr – yes that is her real name – recently moved to). Then I listened to it again, and again. During one of those listens, something clicked for me.
Starr produces electro-pop that on first listen, isn’t all that different from anything else there. There are some hints of Florence and the Machine, some Lana Del Rey flourishes, and plenty of Lykke Li and Marina and the Diamonds.
An edgier Mallrat, I might describe her as, if pushed. The music on her EP would not be out of place in an episode of Pretty Little Liars. But there’s something more there too.
Stream Phebe Starr’s Ice Tea Liberace EP:
At her finest, like on the devastating track ‘TOUCH XXX’, the Aussie electro-pop musician shows she is capable of crafting music that alternates between those tingles you get on your skin when someone brushes their fingers over it, and resonating deep down in your bones.
Lyrically, ‘TOUCH XXX’ is about a relationship that feels like it’s going to last forever, breaking up. The XXX speaks to warnings for explicit content – here, for heartbreak, not for nudity. Sonically, there’s a lot to love too, with Starr’s relentless vocals in each verse building and building into a satisfying, bassy chorus.
Watch Phebe Starr perform ‘TOUCH XXX’:
At the other end of the spectrum is the EP’s title track, ‘Ice Tea Liberace’. As the first track and title track of the EP, it has a lot to achieve, but unfortunately it’s the track I vibed least with. It feels cluttered, like it wants to be too many things at once and is trying too hard to be all of them. There’s good cluttered and bad cluttered, and this felt bad cluttered. Why the horse whinnies?
The other tracks were less polarising for me. ‘Break the Law’ and ‘Bad News’ are both solid songs with great melodies, and I can’t fault Starr’s vocals, which I could listen to all day.
I look forward to seeing what Starr can do, especially now that she’s made the leap to the Los Angeles music scene. I hope we get a little less ‘Ice Tea Liberace’ and a little more ‘TOUCH XXX’.
