aaamusic | On 11, Dec 2011

 

Ooh La Baby is Galia Arad’s, singer-songwriter with a folk edge and a pop heart from New York, new effort.

First of all…Shane McGowan’s on this record. I kid you not. When I first heard Galia Arad whisper “Take it away, Shane” on  Four Leaf Lover Boy I could hardly imagine she was referring to that Shane. The result is a wee bit curios, but fun nonetheless. These two voices could not be more at odds, the overtly sentimental Galia versus the wobbling rawness that defines Shane’s trademark croon.

These are songs of great wit and truth, with spite bursting out of them like smoke from a geyser. Ooh La Baby tells a story, and it’s one you can relate to. All songs deal with the tragic moments that mark the end of a relationship and the start of a new one, and the bitterness of finding that your partner has no problem moving on, while you do, and massively so. Self-deprecation and self-loathing reign unperturbed here, and it is such a warming scene.

The vocals cause some itching though: although Galia’s voice is sweet and passionate, it shouldn’t be allowed to over-emphasise every line; but that is what happens here, and it gets tiring. There is too much pathos, too often. Also, in all fairness the record could use some editing: in the interest of sharpness, a few  of these 14 tracks could have been happy just being b-sides. In this ocean of melancholy and venom, you find that even the good tracks are lost in a blur at the back of your memory. A few cuts would have allowed Ooh La Baby to shine properly.

Author: Chiara Amorello