Elly Roberts reviews
Nerina Pallot: Fires
Distributed by
14th Floor
- Cat.no: 5101132862
- Released: April 2006
- Rating: 6/10
Monday June 12, Nerina Pallot’s debut single Everybody’s Gone To War slips from 15 to 23, though the download moves up six places to 12. This album dropped from 21 to 27.
Having bought her first guitar at the age of 11, Jersey girl Nerina fell in
love with Michael Jackson’s Thriller then moved on to Bon Jovi,
Carole King and Simon and Garfunkel. She later learnt violin and sang some
opera at a boarding school. Eventually, she ended up in a London art
college, but opted to go back to study music.
She’s listened to many sources of music including her mother’s collection,
so now comes her chance to impress us with her multi-disciplined skills.
The single is a vibrant and unlikely summer anthem, considering the gloomy
lyrics. After that, we get a fair spattering of her actual compositional
skills, which range from very good to average.
Top of the crop is a biographical reference to a man she worked with in
the music industry, Mr. King - something that McCartney would write
on his acoustic guitar. A rockier All Good People has a more upbeat
feel with ‘do do do do’s aplenty, synths, guitars, and a catchy hook,
making it a potential next single, as would Learning To Breathe.
Sophia, a song she wrote at university, has a definite Carole King
feel about it, driven by some delightful piano work and soulful singing.
Power-ballad Heart Attack rises and falls with equal class, held
together with rippling sticks, and Idaho, which she hears "is mighty
pretty" is a bit of an epic, assisted by swirling strings.
An ubiquitous-sounding Half Way Home, a la Alanis Morissette, is
clearly aimed at the states with "a quarter in my pocket", though it does
feature some of her best singing.
Others drag on a bit like Geek Love, Damascus, and five-minute-plus
closer Nickindia, ramble endlessly.
It’s a very good album: there are some beautiful moments, but not enough
to make it a classic. Maybe her time will come.
The full list of tracks included are :
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