In the Pink

n the 1990s Cardiff, Wales native Donna Lewis crashed the adult-contemporary pop world with her first single “I Love You Always Forever.” The song’s massive overnight success, however, overshadowed her subsequent releases and in the new millennium, Lewis took time off for motherhood before re-emerging in 2008 with In the Pink, her fourth studio album. If history decides the 2000s were actually the new 1980s, Lewis’ album will stand as strong evidence, bathed as it is in a deep, glossy reverb and synthetic grooves that remind one of that shimmering era. “Ireland” begins things on a wistful note, but “Shout,” “Shut the Sun Out,” and “Obsession” feature sparkling keyboard washes, dense, robotic grooves and intense production processes to create a spaced world that might be what the ethereal and gothic 4AD label would have churned out had they been a happier bunch. Even when she slows down (“Kick Inside”), it’s with a curious spunk. Lewis’ breathy high-flying vocals are seductive and weightless, cruising above the crowd, recalling an era that may have never happened, but should have all the same.