Harry Styles
Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.
ERSKINE/COLUMBIA
Harry Styles could have gone in any direction for his Harry’s House follow-up, yet a move to Italy precipitated a light genre inspiration from techno and house music—or at least Styles and longtime collaborator Kid Harpoon’s take on electronic dance. On the pop star’s fourth album, the duo is joined again by Harry’s House collaborator Tyler Johnson, who also co-wrote and produced Styles’ 2017 debut solo album and 2019’s Fine Line. The grammatically henpecked LP title Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. is a bit of a misdirection; the sequel to the Recording Academy’s Album of the Year is another radical genre shape-shift for a pop star who refuses to settle for just another EDM album.
Styles’ offshoot of German electronic music is emotionally raw, orchestral at times, and lyrically centered. Recurrent themes from within the artist’s past discography pepper the landscape: nostalgia, deconstructing love, finding solo and communal quiet, and a sprinkle of wry wit. Styles and Abbey Road “producer in residence” Kid Harpoon went wild in the studio. Opener and lead single “Aperture” (featuring Wolf Alice vocalist Ellie Rowsell) is a straightforward synth and bass single about the power of togetherness, and the rest of the album continues to let Styles’ light in. Kiss All the Time is propelled by synthesizers, full orchestras, gospel choirs, and Berlin-based musician Yaffra’s beautiful piano phrasing. The album also finds the British songwriter rediscovering his deep bass groove.
Although no one single on the new album reaches the melodic heights of smash hits “As It Was” or “Watermelon Sugar,” these 12 tracks at least give them a run for their money. The earlier tracks hit the hardest: “American Girls” is fortified by London’s House Gospel Choir—who lend bombast to several of the album’s tracks—as Styles sings about American girls tempting his friends with their “sweet eyes.” “Ready, Steady, Go!” has one of the most infectious bass lines on the album and is surely destined to be a future single. Influenced by his time living abroad, the track dips in and out of English and Italian. Styles doesn’t forget the romance behind a thumping beat, though. His vocals are tender and playful as he sings, “You touched me goodnight / Butterflies in both our bellies / You and me are skipping sleep with dirty first.”
The well-mixed interplay between acoustic and electronic elements continues on “Are You Listening Yet?,” with its handclap rhythm and the always-ascendant backing gospel choir. The Parisian vibes of “Taste Back” read like Harry dialoguing with his former self. That seems to spiral outward to unrequited love on the phenomenally titled “Season 2 Weight Loss,” which is all clattering drums and huge synthesizers, wrapping up with a spotlight on Harry alone at the piano.
Kiss All the Time often plays like a romantically pining individual singing into the disorienting darkness of a club. Sure, it can come off as desperate in the back half, but Styles always has a knack for making his most quizzical kumbaya lyrics feel natural through pure musicianship. “Carla’s Song,” for example, ends the album with more heart-to-heart, relationship-beckoning lyrics as Yaffra joins in with curlicues of piano rolling off like heat waves from humming synths and a motorik backbeat. “Disco” may not have been quite accurate as a descriptor this time, but Styles is still making infectious pop music that reflects the communal light and love we can still experience in a time when we need it the most.
