Eliza Doolittle - In Your Hands


It's odd that a girl that just three years ago was in the top 5 of the singles and albums chart (here in the UK) now sits in a position where only 3 major (and I use major generously - Digitalspy, the Daily Star and, uh, SoSoGay) media outlets have bothered to give her sophomore effort a review. The album went on to chart at a not-terrible #25 here in October, but you'd be forgiven for never knowing it was out at all. What typified her debut was a sense of childlike fun: cute, loveable little songs like Skinny Genes and Pack Up made her stand out in a year of dance-heavy chart-toppers. This one documents a break-up (from Good Charlotte frontman Benji Madden, no less) and the ensuing recovery, and as is to be expected, some of the results are quite firmly embedded in serious, soul-searching territory.


The influences here are certainly made quite obvious: opener 'Waste of Time', and later on 'Make Up Sex', are practically screaming The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill at me. Not bad source material, but Doolittle's voice isn't quite great enough to pull it off. A little more modern, shades of Paloma Faith are heard on 'Back Packing', although listening to its lyrics I can't help but wonder if she's singing about her own bottom. 'Hush' and 'Big When I Was Little' are the album's strongest attempts at a catchy pop song but both fall somewhat short; the former rests on just the same few notes repeated amongst her desire for you to "stop talking shit", whilst the latter might've been a nice album track for Alright, Still.

Most of In Your Hands is spent building herself up again and trying to show emotional growth but single 'Let it Rain' feels more of a theatrical soliloquy than anything personal or deep. She's still able to carve a few uniquely-Doolittle moments here and there, such as the strong vocal turn on 'No Man Can' set to a lovely clapping rhythm - that said, when a song makes you think "this is a ripoff of the Hoosiers' Goodbye Mr. A" - itself a flagrant rip-off of ELO's Mr. Blue Sky - as 'Checkmate' does, you know it's not looking great.

Sentiments expressed, too, tend to come off as generic ("I'm in love with you, there's nothing I can do" on the title track), or absurd ("Sometimes I wish I was Jesus/ I'd get my Air Max on and run across the sea for you", she sighs on 'Walking on Water'), and set to the straightforward stageshow backings of the likes of 'Team Player' it does feel like I'm watching an episode of Glee at times.



The year's strongest "I guess it's nice but now I'm going to forget it ever happened" moment.

Rating: 4/10
Highlights: Big When I Was Little; Let it Rain; No Man Can; Hush; Waste of Time
Avoid: Checkmate; In Your Hands; Back Packing; Team Player; Walking on Water

Artwork Watch: Ooer.
Up next: Laura Marling  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues, a review

Image
In 2008 the Fleet Foxes launched onto the music scene with their eponymous debut, landing themselves #1 positions in end-of-year reviews from the likes of Pitchfork, The Times and Mojo. Their unique brand of baroque-fused folk struck a chord with many, and the time has now come for them to follow that success up. In May they will release 'Helplessness Blues', the title track for which they recently released as a free download. The opening track 'Montezuma' is a slow repeat of their signature sound - the version I have unfortunately riddled with a few technical glitches - a minimalist and pensive reflection on life and impending death. In dirth or in excess /Both the slave and the empress/ Will return to the dirt I guess/ Naked as when they came. There's a slight rockabilly tune to 'Bedouin Dress', a slight threat to Robin's claim that the record will be "less poppy, less upbeat and more groove-based". The groove is certainly here, a Garfunkelia
Read more

Lady GaGa - ARTPOP

Image
Ah, the Lady GaGa album cycle. It's rivalled only by the surfacing of a celebrity's nudes in the "what gets the gays riled up" stakes, and is subject to a hideous level of hyperbole, high expectations and Germanotta's own unmistakeable hubris. This time around she's stretched as far as vowing to be the actual first popstar to perform in space (many have claimed they will, but apparently she actually will), has made a typically overstated cameo in Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills , and gone down the gimmicky app route that Bjork and Jay Z did to varying results (Bjork's was innovative and interesting, Jay's was done for a deal with Samsung, go figure). GaGa herself has clumsily tread between the two: her own app appeared to be free, as she probably intended, but now something's popped up, most likely thanks to the label, with O2 that charges consumers £1 a week to listen to it a week earlier than its release date. This careless slipping be
Read more

Icona Pop - Icona Pop

Image
Although usually condusive of a bemused shrug (honestly, I swear some of their featured musicians are made up), the 'Best New Track' feature of Pitchfork occasionally throws up something surprising and instantly loveable: I Don't Care by Icona Pop was just one of them. So when this was also recommended by Popjustice, and given my desperate attempts to immerse myself in pop music and simultaneously be cool, I hopped aboard the bandwagon with gusto. And you know what? I love it. That phenomenal single aside, Sweden's newest pop sensations have, off the back of their international (modest) success, find themselves yet to take over the UK or States. Let's hope, then, that they're not doomed to an embarrassing record label drop and future solo efforts on the X Factor (in the same vein as Mini Viva , who had equally brilliant but tragically-ignored singles) or a series of delayed release dates of album #2 ( VV Brown ). The album, however, seeks to buck the
Read more