Cali-punks whose forte was bouncy, sun-bleached ska pop, No Doubt always brimmed with contradictions. Even frontwoman Gwen Stefani’s tilt at solo-stardom was more complicated than it looked, her facility for shiny Top 40 anthemia tempered by the more-than-occasional veer into day-glo bonkerdom. She wanted to be a Madonna and Britney hybrid but, somewhere, not very far beneath the surface, her inner Björk constantly demanded attention.
Not much has changed. While Push & Shove is No Doubt’s first album in 11 years it carries on right where the band left off. Stefani is still the one wearing the riding boots and her brasher instincts set the tone. She makes like a midlife Britney on ‘Looking Hot’, purring and figuratively fluttering her eyelashes even as she wonders if, at 42, her days of super-babitude are drawing a close. There are vague nods towards the band’s roots in the Anaheim, CA reggae scene especially on the title track, a blustery hook up with MIA producer Diplo (under his Major Lazer handle) and dance hall artist Busy Signal. Ultimately the best moments are the most straightforward: ‘Settle Down’ is a funk-oozing ode to growing middle-aged gracefully, while on the lung-buster ballad ‘Undone’, No Doubt have a tilt at writing another ‘Don’t Speak’ and come dizzyingly close