Sadly, we still live in a world where if you mention the words “female” and “singer-songwriter” in the same sentence, most people conjure a Joni Mitchell type figure drawing bucolic tunes from an acoustic guitar. Not that there is anything wrong with a bit of folk finesse or pop delicacy, but it does suggest that certain stereotypes are sadly still in place, that girls can’t rock out.
Reeya Banerjee can certainly rock out. This Place, her second album, is all the proof you need of that, and while she might cite the likes of Springsteen and U2 amongst her influences, this is no pastiche or plundering of the past either; in fact, the album speaks volumes about where song-led, melody-driven alt/indie-rock is today. (Although Upstate Rust feels like a brilliant tribute to Dublin’s finest, (if we don’t count Thin Lizzy, obviously) and I mean that in the best of ways.)
“Picture Perfect” opens things up perfectly, wandering between the sparser, scuzzier guitar riffs of the verse and the big, squalling, anthemic choruses —a balance that starts to reveal the scope of Reeya’s sonic world.
I love “Snow’s” hazy, noisy-ambient (is that a thing?) cinematic and breath-taking breadth, “Misery of Place” is a near perfect blast of infectious indie, relentless and riotous, powerful and yet poised, and “Runner,” heads off into punk-infused territory, or at least the sort of sound that punk should have become had everyone put a bit more effort into learning to play their instruments and write songs.
And it isn’t just the music; the songs are lyrically rewarding, almost poetic, full of heart and indeed heartache, love, loss, and longing, mental transformation, and physical relocation: these are songs of experience.
To be able to do all that, write songs that already balance the fresh and familiar in a way that makes them already sound like classics, to give so much of yourself to them, be this honest, open, vulnerable and still come up with nine songs that are all strong and compelling enough be released as singles in their own right, speaks volumes about this fabulous artists.
I already feel like I have found two new favourite artists this week, that tally is unquestionably now three!
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