I daresay I’m not the only one who had Amy Studt lumped in with the roll-call of post-Alanis Morrisette one-hit wonders on the basis of her 2002 debut single ‘Just a Little Girl’. She had been just 16 at the time, and while the single sounded like a statement of intent, it seemed to go largely unfulfilled. If 2003’s ‘Misfit’ was her highest charting single (and making the top 10 with ‘arse’ in the opening couplet of a song is no small feat), the fact she was subsequently dropped by her label saw her public profile and the mainstream exposure of her subsequent work plummet.
The benefit of hindsight and a rather different understanding of the industry makes it easier to appreciate the fact that she toured with Razorlight under a pseudonym, and is now on the brink of releasing her third album. That she’s stuck with music-making and now, after a series of low-key shows and a handful of festival appearances, seems to be making a comeback on her own terms, shows a resilience that commands respect.
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Inspired by the tablets she was prescribed when she told her doctor she felt she was ‘unravelling’, ‘Different Colour Pills’ is a mature and delicate piece finds Amy floating in a wash of reverb as she builds layers of melody over a softly shimmering guitar.
Double A-side ‘I Was Jesus in Your Veins’ is a magnificently sparse, intimate sliver of introspection that bursts into a crafted pop. Dreamy and evocative, it’s an accomplished piece of songwriting that sticks it to those who didn’t pay heed to the sentiment of her debut. And as for chart success, in 2015, pah! Who needs it?
Amy Studt Online
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