Cirkus - Medicine

(Morning Star, February 28, 2010)

Album review

There was a distinct slice of the 1990s pop scene that Neneh Cherry owned - her recognisable sultry vocals smouldered their way through her early solo career and memorable collaborations.

So CirKus is lucky indeed to boast her among its ranks, but then it was a concept dreamed up by her husband Burt Ford.

A world of trip-hoppy weirdness, where regular sounds are distorted in their hall-of-mirrors production, CirKus are nothing if not experimental.

On Hardly Breathing, the relentless rhythm punches through the vocal, while on '80s-style Johnny iCon there's La Roux-style pop with a truly luxurious voice.

The high point has to be the title track, a mature and inspired European trip-hop track with warmth and heart, in which the "the sun comes shining through/the sun for me and you."

Definitely the star of the show.

Emily Breeze - The Penny Arcade

(Morning Star, February 7, 2010)
Album review

Bristol-based Emily Breeze's PJ Harvey-flavoured vocal ushers in a new age of wonder from the off.

Like a skiffle band stacked to the rafters with double bass and slick percussion, Monday's Right Hook opens the record.

It is barnstorming stuff.

And it has all the pugilistic force of the dreaded start of the working week.

But in this case, Emily being Emily, it only gets better.

And how.

The fighting talk of the opener mellows on Badlands, which is all acoustic guitar and smokey singing which brings to mind Tanita Tikaram.

But through torch song Lost Highway and the title track, Emily brings a depth to the slower tune that bruises and burns the heart.

With courage in her near-growl and an all-round great set of tunes, The Penny Arcade is set for definite success.

A big thumbs up to this one

Bryan Minus - Forage

(AU magazine, February 2010)

Album review

Slinking out of the speakers like an Anglophile US teen, 'Never Says A Thing' opens Bryan Minus' debut EP with all of the androgyny of Bowie and the staccato guitar spikes of Talking Heads. The Portland, Oregon lad heading up a four-piece obviously has a well-thumbed 1970s record collection, and wears his best colours on his sleeve here.

The opener has some verve, but on 'Looking', the chutzpah is replaced with sixth form shoegazing. 'I Am A Ghost' speaks of the 'Stray Cat Strut', while 'Confess' seems to lack a musical centre. Forage gets an A minus - excellent Bowie aping, but a tendency to sound a little too much like The Cure.