Gemma Ray: Island Fire (Shock)

 |   |  1 min read

Gemma Ray: Flood and a Fire
Gemma Ray: Island Fire (Shock)

At a time when many young bands and singers seem nostalgic for an Eighties pop they never knew, it's refreshing in a weird way this British singer -- here on her third album -- is prepared to trawl rather more widely.

Gemma Ray effortlessly notches up references to an oddball take on Fifties pop ( the delightful shoop-shoop ballad sound of "you should, should" Put Your Brain in Gear "before you open up your mouth") as much as swirling and slightly mad take on dreamy sci-fi psychedelia (Troup de Loup) and surf-influenced psychedelics (the languid Make it Happen).

In addition she has collaborated with Sparks on their How Do I Get to Carnegie Hall? and Eaten by the Monster of Love.

She also has a nice line in hook-you lyrics: "I thought you were sleeping, you seemed as right as rain the day before, I never dreamt you wouldn't wake, I never dreamt that you would take them all" which opens to a guitar-twang on Runaway which then morphs into a moody pop ballad.

And on Fire House: "The fire in the house went on for days and days, I was in the bedroom sleeping . . ." All that sounding rather chipper over piano and again girl-group backing vocals.

The ballad Flood and a Fire, and I Can See You, are all tremolo guitar beamed in from Twin Peaks, and Rescue Me is a dreamy, echo laden nod to girl groups of the late Fifties/early Sixties. Bring Ring Ring Yeah is chirpy pop, sort of.

More than the sum of these influences, Gemma Ray manages (by virtue of unusual lyrics and sheer self-confidence) to ceate something distinctive out of this melange.

Not an essential album by any means, but with each song a distinctive stand-alone unit and those dramatic electro-pop Sparks tracks at the end, this one will definitely keep your attention the whole way.

Strange, in a good way. 

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Yellow Ostrich: Cosmos (Barsuk/Southbound)

Yellow Ostrich: Cosmos (Barsuk/Southbound)

Although taking its title from Carl Sagan's 80s television series about the universe, the cosmological and astral references are musically few on this electronica-cum-alt.rock album by the... > Read more

Mavis Staples: One True Vine (Anti)

Mavis Staples: One True Vine (Anti)

The great Mavis Staples – now 74 – has been immersed deep in the spiritual waters, and therefore has more to draw on, than most singers. She was a child of the church and well... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

THE BARGAIN BUY: Clarence Carter; The Dynamic Clarence Carter

THE BARGAIN BUY: Clarence Carter; The Dynamic Clarence Carter

One part smooth Otis Redding, one part the more sedate end of James Brown and steeped in Southern soul, the great singer Clarence Carter was one of the finest interpreters of a song, even if he... > Read more

THE BARGAIN BUY: Grinderman: Grinderman 2 (EMI)

THE BARGAIN BUY: Grinderman: Grinderman 2 (EMI)

Nick Cave has been very clear that Grinderman is not some side-project from the Bad Seeds, but nor is it a sort-of-solo-project-with-pals or an extension of the early Bad Seeds' darkly malevolent... > Read more