“I was born when you kissed me, I died when you left, lived a while while you loved me, then you left me to fend for myself“. ‘A Lonely Place’, the opening track on this album, such a beautiful, beautiful song of love lived, lost and then resisted, is alone one of my musical highlights of the year. Rarely can a song so structurally and lyrically simple yield such devastating effect but this is something special. A calm then turbulent story, sung with a pure, clear, emotive female voice using seafaring metaphor alongside straightforward musings on love; the sound is gentle, graceful and elegantly pushed along with some understated acid-tinged electric guitar patterns. It can rip your heart out this one, if one tune this year has guaranteed an albums’ inclusion in our Top 20 then this is it.
That’s not to say the rest of the record’s a slouch; if anything it holds up consistently well pulling off the rare trick of being eclectic and diverse in its range of styles. ‘The Loser’s Prize’ impresses just by employing the simple move of putting singer Sian Webley’s voice right at the forefront. There’s also the more country flavoured folk tales like ‘Devils Bridge’ and ‘Bumblebee‘ to dig your teeth into, the latter an uplifting song about valuing the air you breathe and the planet you live on as the financial institutions around you collapse. But they never settle in one style too long; ‘String Loop’ has a title that aptly describes the sound but it doesn’t fully illustrate the haunting effect of Webley’s vocal treatments and the nightmare visions that come flooding in as the sound escalates in the chorus parts. ‘Your Baby’ harks back to the ragtime days of the 1920’s with its “am I is or am I ain’t your baby” refrain but it’s no pastiche, especially not with that fuzzy little electric guitar part cutting through it. Most impressive of all on ‘Red Rag Doll’ they do rootsy, upbeat and catchy, something beyond most purveyors of the atmospherics and studio trickery that Anna Kashfi also excel in.
It’s just a shame, given the all over wondrousness on show, that this is one of those albums languishing so far below the radar that the boy/girl duo Anna Kashfi have enjoyed so little acclaim for this release. We can’t even point you, as we will with most of the Top 20, in the direction of a place where you can instantly try this album out for yourselves. The best we can offer is www.emusic.com where we strongly suggest you sample ‘Survival’, sign up (Essex Boy Review says it’s the best the internet has to offer for great value, independent music download shopping) and treat yourself to the one of 2010’s best underground records. But first have a listen below to that lead off track ‘A Lonely Place’ below.
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