"Welcome to the Mis-Teeq zone," the mechanical voice intones to welcome the listener to 'Eye Candy'. Redolent of both A Tribe Called Quest's 'Midnight Marauders' LP and The Artist Occasionally Still Known As Prince's 'The Gold Experience', where it seems a conceit, here that computer voice makes a certain amount of sense.
Certainly, you're left feeling that Alesha Dixon, Sabrina Washington and Su-Elise Nash have been admitted to some robot-led production line facility, wherein their human components are grafted bionically onto machine-hewn beats. The music they create here is as driven, merciless and unflinching as the scary uber-villains from 'Star Trek: The Next Generation', the Borg. And, like those all-conquering man-machines, Mis-Teeq are hell-bent on universal domination; the only real difference is that they assimilate music, not human flesh. Phew!
'Scandalous', the ubiquitous lead-off hit single, is a superlative example of this style, weaving sultry vocals into a remorseless track that encompasses wailing siren-like sounds, an orchestra, a clicking, stomping hip hop back beat and a swooshing sizzle that sounds like a neon sign on the blink. 'Nitro' throws Janet Jackson, Lil' Kim and Missy Elliott into the blender and rears out as a fearsome, fire-spitting femme-bot, its laser-guided melodies set to stun. 'That's Just Not Me' even gobbles digital dancehall reggae into its gaping maw, spitting out the bare bones of a pop tune with the sort of deejay-destroying alacrity even the likes of Bounty Killer would envy.
The trio's ambitions require plenty of outside input to realise. Salaam Remi, whose production helped The Fugees become a worldwide phenomenon, is a notable addition to a range of boardsmen that include Ed Case (who provides the drum & bass flavoured 'Dance Your Cares Away') and Mushtaq. But whoever they're working with, the trio sound imperious and unassailable; like a street-er Sugababes or credible urban Madonna. Even on Remi's 'Strawberrez', a pirouetting ballad reminiscent of Minnie Ripperton's 'Loving You' right down to the twittering birdsong, their aim is true, their spirit unerring.
OK, so we'll never know what Dixon, Washington and Nash might have sounded like in a world without Destiny's Child, but that's no reason to allow this record to pass you by. 'Eye Candy' is pretty good on the ear, too.
