Happy/Sad/Rinse/Repeat
Bittersweet’s a difficult thing to achieve over the length of an album. Too much of the downers leaves the happy notes sounding trite; too far the other way, and run the risk of seeing the sad parts sounding contrived. Doing it effectively is a balancing act that most artists fail miserably at. Not so Polly Scattergood, the latest addition to a female singer-songwriter genre which is fast becoming overwhelming. Indeed with her eponymous debut, Scattergood achieves a poise that would make Olympic gymnasts proud.
From the frankly epic opener ‘I Hate The Way’, via the haunting heartbreak of ‘Untitled 27’, a track so thoroughly, deliciously depressing it would be unbearable if not for the brilliant sequencing of following it with the Cabaret-styled happiness of forthcoming-single ‘Please Don’t Touch’ (Amanda Palmer, beware), to the wonderful ‘Bunny Club’ and beautiful closing offering ‘Breathe In, Breathe Out’, the album scarcely misses a beat. Armed with pop hooks to die for, a lyrical dexterity that never fails to raise a smile (or a tear - this remains bittersweet territory, lest we forget) and an unfailing ability to perfectly balance the sweet and the sad, this is a wonderful opening offering.
It isn’t without its dud notes, though; ‘I Am Strong’ ventures too far into Kate Nash territory, adding nothing interesting whatsoever. Sadly for an artist so adroitly capable of skipping genre at will, it sticks out as a particularly sore thumb; an entirely unnecessary afterthought, best never entertained. To focus too closely on criticisms, though, would be to do Miss Scattergood a tremendous disservice. Rarely does a debut album herald the emergence of an artist so at ease with their own sound, and capable of pressing all the emotional buttons to such brilliant effect. Polly Scattergood - really, rather good.
C.S.
Top of the BBC’s ‘Sound of 2009’ poll, and with debut album (Hands) due in early June, Little Boots looks set to conquer the UK musical world this summer, and January’s Little Boots E.P. does little to dispel such a motion. Blessed with melodic vocals, synth-dance rhythms, and an ear brilliantly attuned to the most ensnaring of pop hooks, she may not break any particular musical ground, but Little Boots certainly knows how to write a good pop song; opening track ‘Mathematics’ could easily have been the best Britney Spears song since pre-head shaving mentalness.
Sure, there’s something of The Ting Tings (the band we all loved 12 months ago for saving pop music, if you’re ahead of the curve and have already forgotten) about her, and the nagging suggestion that we’ve heard it all before just won’t quite go away. But if Little Boots can provide a full album that sounds this catchy, then who’s complaining?
C.S.
Hauntingly beautiful return for Mercury-nominated star
Few artists could open their second album with a biblical passage - the Song of Solomon, in this case - and not risk ridicule and accusations of mass pretension. Bat for Lashes (a.k.a. Natasha Kahn) is, thankfully, one of a very select few who can openly do so. Incidentally, she is also one of a very few women who can pull off the wearing of a gold headband without looking entirely stupid: Danielle Lloyd, take note.
Focussing on the music, though, and following up 2006’s Mercury-nominated, and unjustly beaten, Fur and Gold was never going to be a simple task. Yet with Two Suns, Kahn takes the best elements of her debut offering, does away with its weaknesses (a relatively low longevity), and has crafted a collection of fantastic collection of tracks combining the catchy (‘Daniel’, ‘Sleep Alone’), the slow-burning (‘Siren Song’) and the indescribably beautiful (‘Moon and Moon’). It is, though, opening offering ‘Glass’ which best characterises an album filled with wonderful contradictions. Ethereal, immediate, haunting, exciting, poetic - it is BFL’s finest moment, and a track that should be heard by anyone with a serious interest in the indie scene.
There’s also significant experimentation and progress evident here; the trip-hop heavy ‘Pearl’s Dream’ represents a significant departure from the recognisable BFL sound, delivering a track that retains a recognisable character, but blends it with a fantastically invigorating soul-funk sound, and a chorus which bores straight for the memory banks upon first hearing.
With her second album, Bat for Lashes cements her reputation as Britain’s answer to Tori Amos - that is, the astonishing early-90s Amos, as opposed to the rather uninspired sounding late-‘noughties’ version, but we digress. In much the same way as her sonic predecessor, Kahn produces songs of fantastic depth and beauty, allowing voice and piano to soar far beyond the realms of the ordinary singer-songwriter and approaches genuine, unequivocal musical genius. She is, perhaps, a once-in-a-generation act; she is to be treasured.
C.S.
Happy/Sad/Rinse/Repeat
