Wow! About ten seconds in to the first track, Polly comes hammering in over a cheerily old-school blues riff and her voice sounds gorgeous. Smokey yet intimate, tuneful and packed with emotion, you can understand exactly why this group is hotly tipped to become huge.
‘Follow my feet’ is a stunning album opener, which serves to showcase not only Polly’s astonishing voice, but also the talents of her remarkable band who sound as if they’re enjoying every minute of their recording time. ‘To be a fighter’ follows with a bass riff that makes the floor shake, and a melody that eats away at the fibres of your brain until you’ll be humming the darned thing all day. Indeed the track is pulled off with such panache and sheer joy that you have to be made of stone if you’re not tapping your feet along within moments. Moreover the lyrics have been written with wit and intelligence, something that seems to be ever-rarer in today’s overcrowded music market. Track three, ‘Charmed’ steps away from the bluesy feel of the first two tracks, towards a jazzier sound but the shift doesn’t feel forced so much as a natural step. Backing vocals, courtesy of Dan Everett and Andrew Steen also wonderfully compliment Polly’s voice, each voice highlighting the other without overpowering them.
‘The Cup and the lip’ comes next, with a tight rhythm and some understated slide guitar recalling Morcheeba in their heyday. ‘I would ask’ relaxes into a more singer-songwriter vibe, and while pretty and jazzy comes across as unnecessary when the album’s been flowing so well to this point. ‘The rounder’ bounces back, however, with a warm bass line and a nicely harmonised vocal that recalls the White album era Beatles. ‘Don’t trouble trouble’ has a real classic rock feel to it, while ‘Lead me on’ sounds exactly as the title suggests; mid tempo blues, with a wistful vocal that is actually reminiscent of the criminally-underrated Linoleum (mid 90’s indie band with a penchant for bluesy numbers and blistering art-rock) at their best. ‘The city and the sailor’ is more story-based rock, with country-esque backing harmonies that are perfectly tailored to the song. ‘Back to earth’ closes proceedings and wouldn’t sound out of place in a Cohen brothers’ movie, with its gospel styled opening, and it leaves you sad that the album’s over so quickly.
This is a wonderful album, warm and joyful, which draws from a wide range of influences and yet combines them to create a seamless feel. It will be fascinating to see where this band go from here, but on this evidence it would be tragic if it was anywhere other than up. This is the perfect album for those warm summer evenings that England is so often denied (I’m writing this in a torrential downpour) and like the melodies that stay in your head long after the final track has faded, you’ll keep coming back for more. An astounding achievement for a band with a bright future.
For more information visit Polly And The Billets Doux’s official website at: http://www.pollyandthebilletsdoux.co.uk/
Or find them on Myspace at: http://www.myspace.com/pollyandtheband
