a lot of the press around siobhans new album will probably hang off the fact that she was originally one of the first members of the ever changing lineup pop band that is sugababes.

however, that fact is where any such connection ends.

for this new major label album, she has in comparison to the straight edge pop world, gone off the wall bonkers into the world of eccentric pop masters, even her friends according to sometimes, tell the girl that she has lost the plot.

not only that, but, according to the press release etc, you would believe that this album is a revelation in extreme leftfield pop music with cutting edge sonic adventures on offer. the reality is that while the multi-layered vocals and style is a distant relation to her previous music, this is still at heart, pure unadulterated pop.

pop music that for once in 2007, doesn’t take  r-n-b or dance as the underlying template, but instead doffs its cap to such voices as kate bush and enya for inspiration. words such as ethereal, lush, sublime, epic, grandeur and dramatic will be easily given space when someone needs to describe how this album sounds.

the results are often gorgeous, and from time to time rather startling, the opening 3 tracks are probably the best pop tracks i have heard in a long long time. the production by james sanger, is subtly different, but to be honest, this is nothing that william orbit hasn’t really done previously with his well loved glossed up wobbly synthetically enhanced atmospheres. i genuinely wish that siobhan had actually been a little braver across more of the album, as other than the obvious experimental tracks, especially the impressive album closer, ghosts, there are quite a few basic singer/songwriter with guitar type of tracks, 12 bar acid blues being one such example that could be one of millions of girl fronted acoustic guitar based tracks that are looped on vh1 during daylight hours.

with the release of this album, the evidence is plainly clear, siobhan was correct to leave the other band and set off on her own spiritual discovery, and as long as the results as interesting as these 11 tracks often are, long may the journey continue.

 

more detail : here