Lennon Stella was once half of the Canadian kid sister act Lennon & Maisy, who went viral in 2012 when they covered a Robyn song with margarine tub percussion; a Taylor Swift awards show support slot ensued. Having spent her teens starring in US TV series Nashville, the elder Stella has done the rounds of guest features (Jonas Blue, Chainsmokers), laying the predictable groundwork for this debut album.
Given all this go-getting, it’s striking how serene Three. Two. One. sounds, less a careerist thrust than a winsome glide. Gone are 2019’s trap pop experiments; in their place, songs like Fear of Being Alone, featherlight R&B where the production detailing pops out appealingly. Although the prevailing mood is aerated, there is just enough going on in the interstices to commend Stella. Games, a grown-up love song, discreetly interpolates 8-bit gaming sounds. Golf on TV, meanwhile, hymns a functional relationship with appealing candour – it “makes no sense”, like “watching golf on TV”.
If nothing here quite matches the quirky swagger of her 2018 tune, Bitch, songs such as Weakness and Goodnight take a turn for the offbeat, thrumming with effects beyond the dictates of the algorithm.
