Hey Negrita - Nine To Five

  by John Clarkson

published: 24 / 9 / 2006

Label: Select Label
Format: CDS

intro

Surprisingly disappointing latest single from their 'The Buzz Above' from London-based Americana/blues rockers, Hey Negrita

Hey Negrita have had a fantastic year, releasing to great acclaim their second album ‘The Buzz Above’, and playing prestigious slots at the Cambridge Folk and Secret Garden Festivals, as well as a headline show at SXSW in Texas and a subsequent sell-out tour of the United States. Now, to coincide with a tour of Britain with the Alabama 3, and a second tour of the States, the London-based Americana/blues outfit have released ‘Nine to Five’, their third single in five months from ‘The Buzz Above’. It is a solid enough fare. ‘Nine to Five’, less dark than its predecessors, ‘Can’t Walk Away’ and ‘Abandon Ship’,which were both about the fracturing of a relationship, is a breezy, barnstorming country number that tells of singer Felix Bechtolsheimer’s date from hell with a high-powered, but snotty estate agent. ‘Sunlight Hits Your Eyes’, its B side, is softer in tone and an elegiac and achingly yearning tribute to a lost former lover. Yet, good as it is, ‘Nine to Five’ will be to all but the newest of Hey Negrita fans a single too far. Both tracks are songs from the album. ‘Nine to Five’ was also the B side of ‘Abandon Ship’ and there is no new music here for committed fans. The songs also haven’t been carefully reformatted like the previous singles , three at a time, from ‘The Buzz Above’ as on ‘Abandon Ship’, and from both it and Hey Negrita’s first album ‘We are Catfish’ as on ‘Can’t Walk Away’, so that both they unwrapped like three tier dramas. ‘Nine to Five’ and ‘Sunlight Hits Your Eyes’ seem in contrast to be songs picked at random from ‘The Buzz Above’ and plonked together on a single. Always hard working and prolific, Hey Negrita have already completed their third and fourth albums, the first an acoustic record which consists of songs from both their previous albums and the latter an electric album of new songs. Both are slated in for release early next year. ‘Nine to Five’, a disappointment, indicates that these can’t come fast enough.

Track Listing:-