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Spacebomb | spacebombrecords.com |
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“Sandy glass stained with red /
Birds with porcelain wings /
In a house filled with books /
That nobody reads /
So many things will fill my life /
But only one will do /
It is you”
The alluring quality of sepia-toned flashbacks permeates Natalie Prass’ debut album, a modest collection of slides and photographs dappled with broad brushstrokes of string, brass and woodwind. Whether lamenting her own foolishness, ducking metaphorical birds of prey or bearing witness to her own violence, Natalie’s handprint is pressed into each of her songs.
The bitterness of which she sings cuts harshly across the sweetness with which she sings it. Though almost thirty at the time of recording, Natalie’s voice is impish, tentative, the voice of a mousey child. Indeed, the album leaves a strong impression of a rediscovered and remastered cache of juvenilia: a little girl’s crayon doodles coloured in with patience and delicacy.
Of course, the effect is greatest where the contrast is strongest. Much of the album’s runtime harkens back to sinewy seventies pop, but on two occasions Natalie indulges in rather grander textures. ‘Christy’ is darkened with a pulsing minuet of minor ninths, a white flag lifted to a woman whose name is “neither too short, nor too sweet.” And the finale, ‘It Is You,’ sets florid imagery against an appealingly fussy waltz, a little drop of joy to cleanse the palate, a twist of lime to chase out the bitterness.
But a drop, however sweet, is not enough. An aftertaste persists.
“Broken bells try to chime /
A guitar with no strings /
There are pearls in the sea /
That will never see rings /
All the answers in the world /
They need a reason to be true /
It is you”