For a moment, I thought I was having a Coldplay moment, covertly appreciating the bombastic production and lack of lyrical subtlety that characterises Polly Scattergood's debut album.
Then I realised it was like listening to Bjork shed of all imagination and only able to do that one paltry trick where she makes her voice sound anticipatory. Then it made me want to go back and listen to Kate Bush's last album (mainly to reassure myself that la Bush has never lacked subtlety). Then it made me momentarily wish I was 17 - or at least 37 - again, and still believing in The Power Of Love. And I had my Coldplay moment again, thinking that perhaps there's nothing wrong with wooden emotion and carefully-tailored earnestness. Then I thought of Jennifer Rush and Frankie and Bruce Springsteen (um, post-1985), and blanched.
Then I threw the fucking promo CD clean across the room, vowing never to be open-minded about constructed 'indie' music again. And then I thought of Manic Street Preachers and realised that sometimes I quite like stridency and gut-wrenching, bowel-churning MIGHTY crescendos that bluster meaningfully in the dark to no end whatsoever. And I fucking love Pete Wylie's 80s moments. And that there's nothing wrong with self-absorption, as long as the person being self-absorbed is vaguely interesting. Is Polly? Hmm. I think I'll reserve judgment there. She's quite post-Kate Nash (lyrically), isn't she? But I (clears throat nervously, looks around, gets ready to scarper) quite like Kate Nash so...
And so I shamefacedly went down and retrieved the CD, burnt it to my iTunes folder and threw it out all over again.
For the Q and Pitchfork readers among us, 5.3 out of 10. No, really.
So does '5.3 out of 10' equate to something like: 'worth 'borrowing' off a file-share network or picking up for 50p at a car-boot. Except you're really better off saving your 50p and your time and bandwidth.'?
ReplyDeleteAlso, she looks like she really wants to be from Sweden. But isnt she from Essex? Not that that's a criticism. Well, the first part isnt. The second part clearly is.
ReplyDeleteAlistair - actually, one indie label tried bringing the "does a 5.3 score = 50p?" equation into the real world. Read about it here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.asthmatickitty.com/news.php?newsID=372
This is the gist:
"Today we are officially experimenting with what we call the Critic-Based Pricing Structure. Instead of selling Ropechain for our standard $10, or letting consumers pick their own price, we have let Pitchfork determine the price. Pitchfork gave Ropechain a 5.4. So, for the next 54 hours, Grampall Jookabox's Ropechain album is available for just $5.40."
this was my exact response to the Shins.
ReplyDelete[...] Pop Group groove, the demented sax, the voluptuous vocals, the squealing and the squalling. 4. Polly Scattergood – Poem Song (from Polly Scattergood demo) Still can’t make up my mind whether I hate or [...]
ReplyDelete