Smatka - Mister V

  by John Clarkson

published: 22 / 9 / 2006

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Review

Smatka are a new London-based band that is centered around the talents of Smatka, an Eastern European émigré who comes originally from a remote Saxon forest on the German/Polish border. Smatka sings in English on this, the band’s three-song debut single. The smoky foreign tinge of her vocals work effectively on the opening track ‘Mr V’, which tells of the agoraphobia and alienation of its central character, and the third song ‘The Daughter’, a theatrical and tortured Kurt Weill-style ballad. The middle track, ‘I Just No’, about an requited love, is, however, a misjudged, ugly-sounding attempt at Europop and is grindingly shrill. The throwaway quirkiness of some of their lyrics is also often forced (“Sometimes he feels like dinner for two/Then he makes a special dish for him and his dog Loulou-‘Mr V’). Yet for all their flaws, and, while together less than a year, they are very much a band still finding their way, there is enough diversity in their sound, and in the striking personality of their front woman, for them to show some initial early promise.

Track Listing:-

1 Mister V
2 Playground