ALBUM REVIEWS: SIGNE TOLLEFSEN and KELE
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Signe Tollefsen
Signe Tollefsen
CoraZong Records
Rating: 4/5
Trained in a Dutch music college, the half-British, half-American barely puts a foot wrong on this debut release. Her carefully crafted folk noir tales and crystalline but soulful vocals evince the murky waters of lost love, rejection and bitter regret. Starting with some gently presented post-break-up pain in It Smells Of You, the likes of History Class, Hooked (You Spit In My Whiskey) and Sweet Tears offer meatier melodic fare. There's a whiff of Laura Marling in Signe's voice, deft lyricism and cleverly emotive arrangements - Mama's toe-tapping country, overlaid with spaghetti-like violin, sees Signe falling for the wrong man and quipping "my heart don't care, it's gonna pay this fare". An evocative and beautiful debut.
Kele
The Boxer
Polydor
Rating: 4/5
The Bloc Party frontman is used to producing pop that straddles both club settings and sweaty gigs, but The Boxer perhaps proves that necessity really is the mother of invention. Kele's thirst to drive things forward sees him construct his invigorating debut from the drum beats upwards. The result is a dance record you can listen to at home, that flies in spite of the weight of ideas bandied around inside. From the hard-edged house of On The Lam to the pleasing electro-smog of All The Things I Could Never Say, cut through by a choir, to the sprightly and fresh plucked strings and floating samples of The New Rules' duet, The Boxer is a knockout.
- STEPHEN MOORE
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