Music Reviews for Music News.com

Emma Frank is a New York based artist who sings her love story of contemplation with a direct and intimate narrative. She has a voice like fresh honey slowly dripping through the pattern of a honeycomb. Her music combines elements of Folk and Jazz but defies genres.

This is music best listened to in a deep velvet sofa with a glass of your favourite wine as you allow yourself to be transported into Emma Frank’s world. Emma creates a musical space in which she can safely express difficult emotions, and she allows us, the listener to also experience those emotions and to make sense of them. This particular single ‘Either Way’ is a cover of the Grammy award winning band ‘Wilco’ and is a track that is an expression of the acceptance that as individuals we do not always have control over the behaviour of a loved one but instead try to understand them either way.

The song has a universal appeal in it’s theme. The single is taken from Emma’s latest album ‘Come Back’ which features original songs written by Emma as well as this excellent cover single.

A great cover from a great original song which Emma Frank has successfully adapted to claim as her own.

Finn Andrews of ‘The Veils’ debut solo album ‘One Piece At A Time’ is an intimate and personal biography graphically told in sound.

The main themes of this album are death, the ending of relationships and the peaks and troughs of life. Previous tracks penned by Finn have appeared in films by Tim Burton and David Lynch and this album reflects his film score background in its dramatic storytelling tracks.

The album was created after leaving London and a relationship breakup and this air of desolation is reflected in the music. ‘What strange things lovers do?’ is reminiscent of a Tom Waits song, a sad tale told in a smoky bar. ‘Love what can I do?’ This an eerie romantic song with a honeyed but hopeless feel. ‘Stairs to the Roof’ has a stripped down acoustic quality which allows the listener a direct greater connection to the song. ‘By the old cathedral when the night gets old ghosts of last nights crimes lined with dope and gold.’ There is a subtle enigma to these lyrics which allows the listener to come to their own conclusions about the story beneath them. The stand out track on this album is ‘One by the Venom’ which Finn describes as list song that lists more than 40 ways to die. This particular track is outstanding as it is a perfect poetic lyric of fate and death. ‘One by barbiturate, one by morphine, one by a method foreseen in a dream.’ It’s exciting to hear a track with such an original concept and lyrics and this was the song I really connected with. ‘Al Pacino Rise and Fall’ is so named as the first words Finn Andrews said as a baby were the words ‘Al Pacino’ this track perfectly encapsulates the peaks and troughs of existence all wrapped up in a swooping melody.

This is a thoughtful and original album. Finn Andrews has already established himself as a formidable talent as front-man of ‘The Veils’ and this debut album takes that talent in a new direction.

Polly Panic (Jenette Mackie) has just created her deeply personal third solo album ‘Losing Form’ released on CD and digitally via Write Hook Records. This is her first album in six years following ‘Fragment’ (2012) and ‘Painkiller’ (2006) She is also part of the popular band Rasputina, but in this instance she strikes out on her own in dynamic style. ‘Losing Form’ is an album which details such varied themes as childbirth, sobriety lust and obsession. Polly wrote and recorded the 10 songs on the album and this solo outlook contributes to the personal nature of the music.

The character of Polly Panic is a cello fragmenting punk rock artist whose new album turns femininity on it’s head. If the shape of the cello is the embodiment of the female form, Polly tears out the inner strength in both the woman and and the cello in this raw heart rendering album. Her presentation sound and lyrics are at once soft and steel as she shares her life story with us. A background in classical training gives way to a desire to break all the rules on this order shattering album. Polly cites PJ Harvey, and Tori Amos as influences as well as the 90’s grunge movement and this inspiration can be heard in deeply personal tracks such as ‘Losing Form’ a dark and theatrical song which details the dehumanizing nature of addiction. Using the cello as a second voice to her own wrenching vocals, Polly takes us on the journey of the dark soul, with theatrical chamber rock and sound distortion, which draws us into Polly’s alcohol fueled loneliness. Other highlights of the album include ‘Annie’ a song about folk hero and sharpshooter Annie Oakly, This track has has a jaunty feminist cello strum with punk vocals, while ‘Side Piece’ is an angry account of how it feels to be ‘the other woman’ this is an album of demons slayed, of creativity rebuilt of ‘Polly Panic rebuilt.

‘Losing form’ is perfect for lovers of alternative rock who don’t want emotions sugar coated but would rather be taken on a dark rock journey that reinvents what it means to be a female rock artist. Unflinching lyrics merged with attitude and cello with bite. The dark side has never sounded so good.

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