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Elly Roberts reviews
Too Pure Records
- October 2007
- Rating: 8/10
For a woman of 33, Emma Louise Niblett aka Scout Niblett has a strikingly youthful voice.
Not only that she has a curiously remarkable approach to songwriting and performance.On stage she wears a blonde wig and sings until her lungs are are bursting point,apparently. On record, this English singer-songwriter (now living Stateside) hasan earthiness that resembles the stipped and ballsy work of the White Stripes.
She can do it nice and slow and emotional alongside a bit of big bang boom.Forget your KT Tunstalls et al, because this girl, well, woman actually, isbringing music a breath of fresh air. She is without doubt a trubadour, emanatinga more Americana sound than British. Her so called peers appear to be Cat Powerand PJ Harvey, though in terms of invention alone, shes way ahead and far moreappealing.
Theres also a sort of Two Gallants imprint here and there, especially on theswooning ballads, like Black Hearted Queen. Bjork-ness also surfaces ondrum click-thick Moon Lake (track 3) and quirky Let Thine Heart BeWarned (with a ’70s Led Zep thrust in places) though things start verygently on a delightful duet Do You Want To Be… with Bonny Prince Billy(Will Oldham). Both do another masterful job on equally beautiful and simpleRiver Of No Return, producing some gorgeous harmonies.
Highlight of this collection is another duet with the Prince, a sharp andexpansive ballad, a la Mica P. Hinson, Kiss. Hinson-like Nevada, castsimages of the desert dust bowls: big echoing chords and picks which ZepsJimmy Page would be proud of.
For Comfort You, its just three of them: Oldham, Niblett and guitar,on a dazzlingly emotive love ballad, as Niblett drawls, “I wanna comfortyouuuuuuuu.” Tying up a solid album with plenty of variety and class, shehits the piano on the sparse and glorious Fishes And Honey.
Ok, theres a lot of minimalism going on. Its still great stuff.
Weblinks:scoutniblett.com /myspace.com/scoutniblett
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Do You Want To Be Buried With My People
2. Kiss
3. Moon Lake
4. Let Thine Heart Be Warmed
5. Your Last Chariot
6. Black Hearted Queen
7. River Of No Return
8. Nevada
9. Baby Emma
10. Yummy
11. Dinosaur Egg
12. Hide And Seek
13. Comfort You
14. Fishes And Honey
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.