Shake the spirit

" Greg Kurstin, the Grammy Award-winning producer of Adele, who has also worked with Beck and Paul McCartney, is the marquee name here, among several other noteworthy helmers -- but King is responsible for the splashy, sultry sound of Shake the Spirit, one that conjures the past while being firmly focused on the present. Its sonic audacity is so bracing, it's relatively easy to forgive the lyrical stumbles, which crystallize on the dirty puns of "It Girl," but that's nearly beside the point because, unlike Love Stuff, Shake the Spirit never seems indebted to Elle King's idols. Instead, it embodies her own bold, bawdy heart".

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"Elle King's 'Shake the Spirit' is a Raw Revelation ... The singer's second LP channels real trauma into bracing retro rock ... Turns out, she was living that drama too. King spent the years since her initial success dealing with the fallout of a short, secret, troubled marriage, a subsequent divorce, substance abuse and rehab. You can hear her map out her story, lyrically, as her impressive second album, Shake the Spirit, progresses".

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