It’s always peculiar to me when a British artist decides to get deeply involved in making “Americana”. It’s a marriage that goes one of only two possible ways, you get either a forced, rose-tinted view, thin veil of true Americana, that hides a messed-up bulge of bad decisions underneath, or on rarer occasions, you can get a truly sensible, passionate affair of the heart that reaffirms your beliefs that music transcends all kinds of boundaries, linguistic, cultural, and geographic.
From Chelmsford is Roisin O’Hagan. A 24-year-old songstress with an able and affectionate voice. Her words are confrontational and personal, on top of a full band backing, with deep rumbling bass, a driving beat, and gentle rhythm guitar. A massive solo erupts in the second half, short and sweet, with massive presence courtesy of a crunchy, delicious tone. The music is also sweet, quite cliched, but heartfelt and emotional. A steady affair with a few, calculated elements whose result is just very nice.
Roisin has a long career ahead of her, and if she keeps her output as solid as Broken Wings, we’ll have very little to complain about. Beautiful and elegant.
