Review: Kelsi Mayne, As I Go

Kelsi Mayne’s music seems built from the hook up – each song is, first and foremost, catchy and immediately hummable. Mayne has a knack for melodies so instantly gratifying that the small lyrical stumbles or occasional glaring misstep – the giddy romance of Better On You is marred by an unfortunate rap break – are generally easy to overlook. This country pop is a well-calibrated machine, each song built from relatively traditional instrumentation blown to big-tent pop scale.

It’s there on the record’s cover – the clean lines and coloured festival powder make clear Mayne’s desire to invigorate crowds, to have entire fields sway to her tales of modern love, revenge and heartbreak. As I Go does little truly new with modern country’s grit-and-glamour palette, but it’s 11 tracks are decidedly of today, and Mayne has the personality to pull off even her more generic sonic choices. 

The record’s best songs – like the revenge-anthem title track – are also its loudest and most animated. The ballads, like the generally pretty Leave, are just that – generally pretty. Mayne is at her best in shit-kicking mode, when her energy and sense of humour can elevate these songs above the typical fare. 

As I Go was released March 27, 2020.
Listen to it here