aaamusic | On 06, Apr 2011

This album is a pure dream, I have to admit that I’ve never heard the name of Tallulah Rendall before and it’s a shame because this singer songwriter deserves to be as successful as Anna Calvi. Indeed they came from the same music school, but where Anna is dark like Siouxsie, Tallulah is dreaming like Kate Bush, she has got the same kind of grace.

I wanna start from the last song of this remarkable sophomore album titled Alive. Lost on the way cradles the listener with a gently harp and is caressed by Tallulah’s vocals. Luckily she’s different from Florence Welch but they have in common the delicacy and the use of harp that is a fatal weapon paired with those voices.

But Tallulah has also got a rock soul, Alive starts with a smooth guitar, an echo of piano and this shining, powerful but thin voice that plays the melody like an instrument, she starts like Kate Bush to turn into Pj Karvey after a minute.

But she remains Tallulah, she is not a mere copy of other singers, I will be absolutely able to recognize her voice and her music amongst hundreds.

About the songwriting, songs have a linear structure, but it’s the most convenient to show her vocal talent, because instruments are almost on the background, to emerge only when she takes a breath; guitars use clear sounds, there are no electro effects, when the tension grows up the tune usually turns into a rock piece, as Go Bathe into light.

Underground is the jewel of this album, strings give a solemn to touch to her blown voice accompanied by sirens choirs, the song is called underground but I feel under the sea, like I live in a muffled world.

Another quality is performing songs, she’s theatrical like she’s acting it, indeed some songs could be part of a musical, Nothing is over is a perfect example of a melodramatic tune sung with a fragile intensity.

Colorblind could be a single with its dark – dance groove, while Blind like a fool is the first released single and it’s a perfect choice because it’s another face of Rendall’s music, smarter and blinky, with a country vein.

Ghost in the water and Older than the hills are once more a demonstration of her feeling with ethereal sounds, like she’s a nymph running in a forest.

What can I add? My only advice is to listen to this beautiful work, to understand the complexity of a female soul and the music she can create.

Author: Roberta Capuano