THIS WEEK’S NEW ALBUMS REVIEWED | FEATURE
Carla Bruni (Universal/Wrasse)
This eponymous album by model and wife of ex-French President Nicolas Sarkozy follows on from 2017’s hugely successful French Touch covers album, on which Carla Bruni covered songs by Depeche Mode, The Clash and Lou Reed, as well as a brilliant stripped down version of the Stones’ Miss You. This time round, Bruni presents a collection of her own compositions, sung in French and recorded over six days with multi-instrumentalist Albin de la Simone. His production technique seems to be to keep Bruni’s songs of exploration and travel refined and direct, in a Françoise Hardy kind of way.
Carla Bruni will be welcomed with open arms by her many fans, and is by all means a beautifully sung collection of songs that you do not need to be fluent in French to enjoy, even if those sitting on the fence might find some tracks a little twee for these turbulent times.
words DAVID NOBAKHT
April / 月音 (Bella Union)
Three years ago, Emma-Lee Moss [top – photo credit Alex Lake] journeyed to Hong Kong, her birthplace and the territory where she spent her early years, for a family visit that turned into an extended stay. It started out peacefully, Moss gathering ideas for her fourth album as Emmy The Great during the Mid-Autumn festival, wandering around with the moon looking down. She delivered her baby there while she and her partner watched the demonstrations starting.
The stories that blossomed address her Eurasian identity, belonging, in-between transitional stages, friendship, legends (and space travel), the east, the past (jettisoning baggage) and future, even taking a detour back to Brooklyn using jazzy horns. The composer/journalist crafts her sweet, simple voice around witty, dreamlike folk-pop tunes that also use non-Western instruments. I prefer the songs which bear greater evidence of Chinese musical modes, but most have smatterings of that culture weaving throughout (though one even has doo-wop thrown in!). Emmy moves through the phases of her life with the moon, ever glowing.
words RHONDA LEE REALI
Lament (Epitaph)
Every so often a band will come along and completely rewrite the punk formula. It was Bad Brains and Black Flag in the early-mid 80s, Refused did it in 1998 and California’s Touche Amore did it with the spectacular Stage Four in 2016, making them instant scene darlings. In an effort, perhaps, to ease the pressure somewhat, they followed that up with a re-recording of their debut album, keeping them in people’s thoughts while not actually writing new material – which makes Lament the first album since that monumental record.
A clever tactic, which I have to say has worked wonderfully. Lament is full of abrasive guitar and captivating melody, all harnessed together by those passionately screamed lyrics that vocalist Jeremy Bolm belts out, recalling Laura Jane Grace of Against Me!. Most bands dream of making one landmark album; Touche Amore are making a career of it.
words CHRIS ANDREWS
Invitation (WTW Music)
Twin-sister country-pop duo Catherine and Lizzy Ward Thomas return with fourth album Invitation, having earnt their peers’ respect after 2016’s Cartwheels became the first homegrown country album to top the UK charts. Mostly recorded through lockdown in their Hampshire cottage, the resultant stripped-back production offers a sound which adds to its rootsy authenticity. Trying to put an upbeat spin on these times, the title serves as an “invitation” to a more positive time – be it figurative, an invitation to self-reflect, or physically, to a point when we can party again.
Lead single Sweet Time is a light and airy tune about how you don’t need to rush to define a relationship. My Favourite Poison is a sultry addition to Invitation, concerning the turbulences of an on-off relationship with the girls’ trademark harmonies the cherry on top of a very well-made track, while the a capella Dear Me sets a perfect atmosphere for that self-reflection which they spoke of.
Halfway, a James Blunt feature, somehow doesn’t sit right with the theme and ambience of the rest of the album but I guess that’s why it’s listed as a bonus track. The two covers also in this category, Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide and a live rendition of The Killers’ Human, add an elegant ending to a sweet, intimate and calm release from these UK country maestros.
words DENIECE CUSACK
Sleepless Night EP (Matador)
When Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara picked a band to perform jukebox duties by recording covers of some of his favourite songs to accompany an exhibition of his work, he could hardly have chosen any more wisely than Yo La Tengo. Over the last 36 years, the New Jersey legends have repeatedly proven themselves to be not only jacks of all trades but masters of them too, turning pretty much everything they’ve touched into gold: indie rock, punk, fragile folk, gnarly garage, experimental diversions, incendiary noise wigouts, even perky pop.
The Sleepless Night EP finds the trio exploring relatively unfamiliar terrain (at Nara’s request), trying their hand at old-time country blues and sweet Americana and, as usual, coming up smelling of roses. A beautifully somnolent version of Dylan’s It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry, sung by Georgia Hubley against a backdrop of gentle drone and syrupy warmth, steals the show, while the one original composition, Bleeding, bodes well for the successor to 2018’s underwhelming and disappointingly monochromatic LP There’s A Riot Goin’ On.
words BEN WOOLHEAD
