I loved the single ‘Green,’ which was my first taste of Lottie Gray, and I love this fine EP. Once ‘Heads Down/Hands Up’ hits its stride, I feel the same embrace of acoustic pop delight that I got when I first heard KT Tunstall’s masterful debut album. I’m not saying that they sound that alike – well, a bit, maybe, in places – but it is more the way they do things and the craftsmanship of the songs, that blend of energy and seeming effortlessness, that is the common ground, the sense that these are songs that will endure, classics in the making… add time.
After ‘Green’s gently chiming and effortlessly charming, big but measured sound, ‘Teeth’ is a song built on seductive understatement, intimate and string-swept. And then, ‘Worst Punchline’ sits between the two worlds, spacious yet hitting sonic heights to make its point, but more often happy to swirl in carefully crafted sonics – shimmering piano, distant vocal harmonies, clever guitar motifs, and alluring atmospheres.
‘Bed and Breakfast’ is often so delicate as to be ephemeral, a sound drifting in and out of the listener’s conciousness and ‘Keep Me Sane’ is a brilliant way to round off, a summation of the sonic range of the EP starting in almost a cappella territory, whispered and from the heart, rising to scintilating sonic creschendos before falling back into more measured musicality.
It is fair to say that the pop, indie, and folk worlds are full of six-string acoustic troubadours trying to make their mark on the singer-songwriter form, but most of them don’t have Lottie Gray’s not-so-secret weapon…a bag of great songs, I mean really great songs. And once you have that, the confidence in the delivery and the ability to stand out from the pack naturally follow.
If you listen to only one acoustic-driven singer-songwriter this month, give _The Big Idea _ a spin; if you want to listen to two such records, play it twice.
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