Artist: Polly Scattergood
Title: Bunny Club
Label: Mute
Genre: Indie
Bitrate: 172kbit av.
Time: 00:20:59
Size: 27.47 mb
Rip Date: 2009-11-28
Str Date: 2009-11-30
01. Bunny Club (The Chatterley's Single Mix) 3:49
02. Unforgiving Arms (Single Edit) 3:37
03. Nitrogen Pink (Tara Busch's Analog Suicide Mix) 6:07
04. Please Don't Touch (Acoustic Demo) 3:10
05. Nitrogen Pink (Acoustic Demo) 4:16
Release Notes:
How many whimsical electro-folk chanteuses does it take to change a
musical landscape? One tempting answer is 'probably fewer than weÆve
seen emerge in recent years', but then again, an embarrassment of
riches was never a particularly upsetting problem. Genre fans may find
themselves having to bulk-order more Ikea shelving as the Noughties
bleep coquettishly to a close, but there always seems to be just enough
room for the next emergent heroine of quirk: sweeping generalisation it
may be (and is), but the quality of this countryÆs female-masterminded
homebrew scene does appear to have been stuck on an alarmingly
protracted high for some time now.
Essex-born doyenne-in-waiting Polly Scattergood has certainly put in
the legwork over the last couple of years, maintaining a
hummingbird-like presence on the usual social networking suspects as
she tirelessly tweets, vlogs and Audioboos her nascent alt.pop career
and its faintly unsettling air of inevitability. In fact, the Bunny
Club EP is presumably the least labour-intensive thing sheÆs put her
name to so far, simply because itÆs actually a fistful of remixes and
demos from last MarchÆs self-titled label debut. (She doubtless took
the portrait snap on the cover herself though, or made all the jewel
cases out of old cereal boxes. Something along those lines.)
As one of ScattergoodÆs recent blogs confessed, the reason for Andy
Chatterley and Nerina PallotÆs re-jigging of the title track here was
to æmake it sound more like a singleÆ. ItÆs worked: their washes of
spacey cymbals and digital glitter conspire to oil up a darkly twisted
vignette of grimy glamour in the capital (ôSearching for my saviour at
the bottom of a packet of tobacco / But with me they take one look and
they run / IÆve got a dog and a gun, and IÆm living in London nowö),
resulting in a much more mellifluous four-minute lullaby than the
original offered.
æUnforgiving ArmsÆ also gets the æsingle mixÆ treatment, although it
remains a more stubbornly plodding ditty, packing few surprises beyond
a sinister spoken intro about weather girls and licking up crumbs.
Still, a rubbery sine wave motif gives it some much-needed strut in the
pre-chorus, and just about keeps the engine running for the duration.
Much more rewarding, though, is an Analogue Suicide reworking of live
favourite æNitrogen PinkÆ, delivered by highly vocal Scattergood fan
Tara Busch. Where the album versionÆs eccentric combination of fizz and
falsetto provoke Kate Bush comparisons before anything else,
Busch-with-a-c rips every ounce of puppy fat from its bones and instead
grafts on a faintly monstrous layer of scales, feathers and armour in
its place. Suddenly, weÆre veering giddily over Bj÷rk territory, and
becoming aware of a previously hidden string to ScattergoodÆs DIY
sticks-and-twine bow.
æPlease DonÆt TouchÆ and æNitrogen PinkÆ (again) each make a
stripped-down acoustic appearance to wrap things up; each does an
endearing job of showcasing the authorÆs tremulously intimate
imperfections, but theyÆre more effective as palate-cleansers after the
sensual smorgasbord of that stand-out Analogue Suicide centrepiece than
anything else.
Being something of a placeholder release was always going to be an
accusation you could level at the Bunny Club EP: it's a reasonably
lightweight package by any standards, but in ScattergoodÆs defence, it
doesnÆt really feel as though itÆs intended to be much more than that.
Scattergood is still an artist finding her feet, winning fans through a
well-judged combination of hard graft and zeitgeist-happy
accessibility, and she remains one to watch as this most capricious of
musical decades makes way for double figures. On this evidence, PollyÆs
already more than willing to mess with her own formula, and that
promises some real intrigue for the future.
sire@hush.ai