5/10

Returning three years after her brilliant return to form, 'Matangi', M.I.A. is back once again with possibly her most ambitious full-length to date. With its constant political commentary and confrontational presence, it is clear that 'A.I.M.' is definitely more of a statement record than anything else. And while her message is extremely commendable, it has affected the diverse and interesting direction her records have always had.

'A.I.M.' is the first album from the singer that hasn't featured her go-to producer Switch behind the mixing desk, and the lack of his presence is evident. The record instead opts for a vast array of different beatmakers all adding their own influence to the record, making it an extremely messy affair. In some places, the full-length features singles that were released almost two years ago, showing this is merely a collection of tracks produced at different times and glued together with no fixed intention or direction.

While there are a bunch of great tracks on here, it has almost no flow to it, jumping from one track to the next track without any purpose and giving a real segregated feel. Instead she'd have had better luck releasing individual singles and brief EPs rather than try and bulk her work together for a new album.