Unfortunately before I even start playing this record my musical sensitivities are already piqued by the appearance of Welsh singer/songwriter RACHEL MARI KIMBER in the Style section of last weekend’s Sunday Times. With her cat.
For those of you unfamiliar with the weekly ‘Me and My Pet’ feature or indeed the Style colour supplement, suffice to say that its perspective on music amounts to little more than an analysis of Charlotte Church’s makeup decisions or a bitch-fest surrounding Victoria Beckam’s beach clobber (as indeed it was last Sunday). And if you’re wondering why I’m reading such tosh, well how else is a 30-something male supposed to stoke the fires of his raging cynicism unless he can pour more fuel on his comforting pyre of bile by perusing the inane perspective of such wretched media?
I also like some of the recipes in it.
But to return to Ms. KIMBER I’ve now listened to her debut album ‘Life Changes Everything Changes Life’ - Do you see what she’s done there with the title? – and can happily report that it’s not all bad. But it’s not all that great either as I keep thinking it’s The Corrs I’m hearing but without the penny whistle. Like The Corrs she can write a decent tune but then decides to send it off to a Swiss Finishing School so that it learns proper etiquette and polite manners thus ensuring it has absolutely no chance of offending anyone before it’s unleashed into the world with a toothsome smile, a happy disposition and the correct posture.
I’m also amazed that she’s managed to secure support slots with the likes of Damien Rice, Turin Brakes, Jesse Malin and The Stereophonics (no prizes for guessing which one of those acts I detest, boyo) given her predilection for syrupy MOR tunes. Her voice is only nice and by no means distinctive, a condition only worsened by the stereotypical arrangements consistently employed with little variation: strumming guitars, mid-tempo rhythms, obvious harmony sections etc. The album reaches its lowest depth on the track ‘The One’ on which Ms. KIMBER sings “Being lonely is only a state of mind” - try telling that to someone living on benefit on their own in a bedsit – and at that moment sounds like someone who has never experienced the desperation that loneliness can instil.
|
Despite its obvious title ‘Truth Hurts’ is an affectingly sombre ballad while ‘Bubble Trouble’ reminds me of All About Eve and is the one song that seems to break out of the bland mould that Ms. KIMBER (who wrote, arranged and produced the album) uses, opting for once to employ darker rock overtones rather than the lightweight and characterless folk/pop insinuations. The net effect of her arrangements is to leave me bored and listless as the anticipation of hearing something different gives way to indifference and finally antipathy.
Once again here is an album showcasing a woman with genuine talent but once again wasting the opportunity to posit a distinctive voice in the overcrowded singer/songwriter market in preference for a comfortable life basking in the commercial afterglow of other established artists.
|
