cathy davey - tales of the silversleeve
dig around recent posts, and you will notice that ireallylovemusic aint really feeling the current glut of girl fronted pop music.
while the girls are in each in themselves perfectly fine, nothing has really stood out for me.
so why has this second album by cathy davey made me swing and smile more than anything in the current pile.
well, if memory serves me right, first time around cathys debut was a lot more angry, and grrrrrrr.
i never got to hear it, but the singles were very much indie guitars and suchlike.
for this follow-up though, she has obviously found a new love for pop music, and music that’s full of happiness as the vibe is positively joyous, and even a little quirky.
the musical template throughout the 11 tracks is minimal and avoids any fuss.
consisting of guitars, bass and drums, adding a splash of piano here, and some horns (not
mark ronson/daptones i hasten to add), but the self produced arrangements are wonderfully original and make for a very welcome change in these overly compressed production days.
subtle twists like the clean marimba notes in the genuinely superb moving, the out of tune guitar solo during the swinging
reuben (not some homage to the uk rock band i would suggest), and the simple open production of
mr kill make this unashamedly pop album a hugely enjoyable listen.
of course, the printed lyrics are all rather obscure for anyone not involved, and provide little insight into the world of their red dress loving creator, and given the fact that the coverart shows cathy in various unsuitable places barefoot playing with an antique cassette recorder, there are reasons to be concerned as to the girls mental well being.
but such issues are cast aside by the fourth consecutive spin of this rather special album.
no drug/brit school/ hype necessary, as quite simply this is a fine album full of hook filled pop songs.
oh, and could this be the only album to be released in 2008 (ok the girls homeland, ireland, have had this on the shelf picking up awards since late 2007), that has absolutely no reference to anything as fancy as an artist website or even a myspace hangout.
now that’s gloriously weird, and like the rest of the album, makes for a refreshing change.