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DVDfever.co.uk – Cate Le Bon: Me Oh My CD reviewElly Roberts reviews
Irony Bored Records
- Released: October 2009
- Rating: 6/10
- Vote and comment on this album:View Comments
Lo-fi second from… Welsh songbird.
No relative of Duran Durans Simon Le Bon, Cardiffs very own bi-lingual Cate Le Bon first came to prominence supporting compatriot Gruff Rhys on his 2007 solo tour and has since played Glastonbury, Green Man and Latitude festivals.
Now signed to Rhys own label Irony Bored, shes been singled out as the keeper of a haunting (if sometimes) warbly voice and dark lyrical content: she confesses to having an abnormal fixation with death.Musically she straddles alt-folk and indie, (with parallels drawn with Nico and Bobby Gentry) so the mainstream potential is slightly limited, because there arent any recognisable hits here.
Nevertheless, Me Oh My has plenty of melodies to keep you grabbed with a hint of late 60s psych-folk.
Her fixation seeps out immediately on the strum-lite title track Me oh my / Me oh my / I fought he night and the night fought me. Tormented or what? Anyway, this little sweetie grew up in a much different environment to the principalitys capital out in rural Pembrokeshire, a lovely region. She grew up on a musical diet of home-grown talent like Super Furry Animals and Gorkys Zygotic Mynci.
Those quirky influences have made an indelible impression on young Cate and theyre all rolled out on Me Oh My which is essentially a folk album, though purists might contend that tag.
If that was to be ever dispelled then, Its Not The End might convert them. Gentle guitar picks and hovering voice and violin solos keep it firmly folk rooted. Closer, Out To Sea has the same effect.They (assorted members of Gorky) have some retro-fun on the edgy Hollow Trees House Hounds with whoever giving it some guitar wellie on a song that would fit the songbook of Californian cult band Love.
Terror Of The Man is also steeped in late American underground boosted by rolling keyboard tinkling synonymous with The Doors which also features on Eyes So Bright.Commercialism clearly hasnt entered Le Bons mindset, but she will need something to give this album a nudge, so The Digging Song is the one, which might just get picked up by some intrigued radio producer . The gentle country-rock swagger is coated by some fabulous harmonica a la Neil Young.
Me Oh My isnt going to create massive waves, but it might cause some never-ending ripples.
The verdict One to watch.
Weblinks:catelebon.com /myspace.com/catelebon (Me Oh My sample)
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Me Oh My
2. Sad Sad Feet
3. Shoeing The Bones
4. Hollow Trees House Hounds
5. Its Not The End
6. Terror Of A Man
7. Eyes So Bright
8. Digging Song
9. Burn Until The End
10. Out To SeaView the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>
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.