Nell Bryden: What Does It Take?
Nell Bryden: What Does It Take?
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Monday, 12, Oct 2009 02:15
Cooking Vinyl, out now.
In a nutshell...
Sweet folk music
What's it all about?
The lack of hard-hitting political messages and aggressively fresh creative edge can perhaps be forgiven because at least Bryden had the artistic strength, and the control over her own sound to pen all of the eleven tracks herself. It's what you expect it to be: stories about American people, and love songs without a trace of unhealthiness.
Who's it by?
Nell Bryden isn't exactly a household name, but she has played over 500 live shows across the globe in the last 12 months, including tours with pop-rock songwriting queen KT Tunstall (who writes wonderful songs despite being apparently being unable to spell her own name correctly) and gloom-rock heavyweights Counting Crows. Her debut single and album title track has been made a soundtrack to many middle-class lives by virtue of Radio 2, and has also been very popular in Ireland where it made the Irish top 40 singles chart. Bryden has also popper over to Iraq a couple of times, as apparently she boosts morale by singing to the troops. Apparently. (Personally I think there's a good chance she just likes the uniforms.)
As an example...
"I'll admit it's fun, when he takes me out/There's no history for me to cry about/But it's not like loving you/You were just too good/I still think about you/More than I should." - It's Not Like Loving You
"One day soon we will remember/We will wake up in in the sun/I wish you all the best my baby/Don't take no from anyone/Everybody knows I/Don't want to say goodbye." - Goodbye
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys?
In all honesty, her following is likely to be limited to Radio 2 listeners and people who wish Norah Jones was still awesome. But that's not entirely a reflection on the actual quality of her music.
What the others say?
"A woman who not only packs a vocal punch, but knows how to write a killer tune as well." - Chris Jones, BBC Review
"She can play, has a voice to die for, writes great songs and I am starting to think I hate her. Too much talent should not be allowed." - Janice Long.
So is it any good?
With Lady Gaga, Katie Perry, Pixie Lott and (God assist us) Cheryl Cole all over the main radio playlists with varying degrees of success, it's easy to question whether we really need another tall skinny attractive solo female artist clogging up the airwaves.
But there should be a small space made in said airwaves for Nell Bryden. Although no-one could describe What Does it Take? as ground-breaking, it would be equally ridiculous to dismiss it as derivative, or ignore Bryden's talent. She has captured the tried-and-tested folk-blues mood perfectly, and has wisely not overreached on the songwriting front. Here is a collection of songs without any tempting cheap shock and, er, bore tactics of kissing girls and, you know liking it, or painfully pointless lyrics about fighting, fighting, fighting for 'love' (if that's what you call it, Cheryl... ). Instead, Bryden has penned a small collection of simple but touching songs about comparatively normal relationships, which she sings, at the very least, pleasantly, (Meridan, Where the Pavement Ends) and, occasionally, with genuine ballad-chick force (Not Like Loving You).
The album's highlights, however, are songs like the subtle Goodbye, with its restrained sense of depersonalisation, and the story-telling Only Life I Know. Interestingly, it is only when Bryden tones her voice down a bit that anyone can really step back and appreciate its full effect; when she reaches almost shouting tones on the karaoke-like ballad Not Like Loving You, she is in danger of smothering any creeping emotion before it can breathe and just drowning everyone in her immense volume.
At times it feels like a struggle for Bryden between giving right of way to the vocalist in her, and the songwriter. But the songwriter is clearly the way to go. Her writing is just about strong enough to carry an album, but her singing, while admittedly an awful lot better than Cheryl Cole's, simply is not.
7/10
Louise McCudden