First Listen: Grace Potter, 'Midnight'

AUGUST 05, 201511:01 PM ET
ANN POWERS
All hail pop rock! Few categories in contemporary music are more maligned, yet what resides within this one can be tremendously energizing, adventurous and fun. The term "pop rock" affixes itself to all kinds of things — new-wave songs by women celebrating the weekend, like the Go-Go's "We Got The Beat"; boy-band charmers with a little extra kick, like One Direction's "Little Black Dress"; dance songs with guitars, like Donna Summer's "Bad Girls"; stuff by guitar bands that takes an open-minded turn, like Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me." Some people think it's too shiny and too cheap, but it's actually inclusive and progressive; it's a party that's a little messy; it's sincere. And in Grace Potter's hands, on her first solo album Midnight, pop rock gets a real kick in the cherry-red pants.
Potter has risen in the rock world leading the Nocturnals, a super-solid band that's proven versatile enough to integrate plenty of soul, but which always goes back to the basic rock riff. Within that group, Potter became known as a belter and a strutter, with a dynamic range that could get a little overwrought.

Potter has proven her versatility guesting with everyone from Kenny Chesney toThe Rolling Stones, but she clearly needed a new main collaborator to break out of her sweet spot. Working with L.A. producer Eric Valentine on Midnight, she remains her aggressive, earthy self while getting playful in new ways. With its songs about sex and dancing, self-confidence and risk, Midnight is a mid-career turn for Potter that proves genuinely freeing.

read more: http://www.npr.org/2015/08/05/429329457/first-listen-grace-potter-midnight?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150806&utm_campaign=Music&utm_term=