Janelle Monae is a cyber-soul rock angel from the future. Her debut, Metropolis: The Chase Suite, is a retro meets neuvo concept album based on Fritz Lang's iconic 1927 German expressionist film of the same name. Musically, she explores a dystopian universe full of robots, evil capitalists and oppressed workers as Android No. 57821, also known as Cindi Mayweather, who has comitted the unforgiveable crime of falling in love with a human named Anthony Greendown.
In a bold move designed to thwart piecemeal purchasers, Monae has decided release her material in a series of suites, a group of about five-to-seven songs released every few months. This is the first of four suites in the Metropolis series in which our beloved and beleagured heroine tries to flee from the Star Commission, which has caught wind of her little crush and are searching for her with intentions to kill, hence the subtitle, The Chase.
Ironically, Monae creates this futuristic world of hers by synthesizing past inspirations: the operatic pop and hornlike sharpness of Shirley Bassey, the energetic funk of James Brown and the breezy rock and soul of OutKast.
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