Ericj32
Well-Known Member
You are so right about the Dusty Springfield influence! It's cool to hear that heritage reflected in Nicole's singing, songwriting, instrumentation, and even some of the themes and helps me appreciate it on a different level! For whatever reason, the mental image I have when I listen to both of these records is the singer just wandering in and out of rooms in an empty house and kind of thinking out loud to work through what they're feeling, haha.
Arum Rae sounds kinda like a weirder, chilled-out Amy Winehouse - her voice still cuts like a dagger over the gentle guitar strumming (which also gave me Lauryn Hill MTV unplugged 2.0 vibes, but in a good way bc I actually like that album haha).
Jessie Ware's "Glasshouse" is lush powerhouse diva pop that's warmer and less synthetic than I brace myself for from modern pop artists. That "Selfish Love" song is a slinky, sensual slow burn with a cha-cha-like sexy guitar underneath. I'd heard her name but never really listened to any of her stuff, and I'm looking forward to listening to her other albums.
Electrelane is definitely not pop, haha. Plenty of feedback on that first track, so I was bracing myself for noise and screaming, but the rest of it is easy to listen to, and a lot of the songs are catchy in their own ways. I like the experimental jamming on "If Not Now, When?" There is so much variety on this album, but I love how it feels like a natural progression between all of the different genres with plenty of instrumental interludes to bridge all these different sounds and moods. "Eight Steps" is like a wild polka jam. "Gone Darker" sounds mysterious and cinematic like a noirish western with a deranged saxophone. "Business or Otherwise" sounds like the sound effects to a fun, suspenseful movie about a monster that lives in your attic. It all has a fun, low-fi feel and each song seems like it shapeshifts into something entirely different.
EDIT: Listening to the Working Songwriter podcast episode now and Joe Pug mentions at the beginning that Nicole has toured with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, and yeah, now that I look, she was the opener for the Nick Cave show at the DAR in 2014, and I'm pretty sure I missed most of her set, but I remember really liking her even without knowing who she was or any of her songs.
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