Rosie Abbott - Rosie Abbott

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 9 / 7 / 2012

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Review

It wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t say that the description of an unsigned singer-songwriter who recorded an album at home and who plays only occasional acoustic gigs in small venues in her home town doesn’t immediately make you think you’d found your next favourite album. But, with no finger picked guitar or mumbled vocals in earshot, Rosie Abbott’s debut quickly sets about dismantling any preconceptions. With the Beatles clearly a major influence. Abbott offers a string of big hearted pop songs, complete with thumping piano chords and big choruses. As a fully paid up Beatlefreak, depressed at how few new bands bother emulating the Fab Four to any great extent, this is music to my ears. The twelve tracks on this album were recorded in a five day burst, given access to her parent’s house while they were away on holiday. Without a backing band, she played everything herself – admitting that at times instruments were thrown in at random. Indeed, she re-learnt the violin to give her pianos a suitable accompaniment, having not picked one up since the age of 14. Many of the songs were written when Abbott was a teenager, and it shows in some of the lyrics. But, when set against such an irrespressibly cheerful melody, a song like 'If Everything Was Up To Me' doesn’t need anything more than a simple sentiment. Endearingly, she doesn’t take herself at all seriously. Complete with a chorus of hiccups, ‘One More Glass’ is the silliest drinking song since the Divine Comedy’s ‘A Drinking Song’. Elsewhere, she evokes Elliott Smith with the shuffling folk-pop of 'Unfathomable', which takes us forward ten years, when the realities of mundane adulthood have taken hold. 'Winter’s Over' finds Abbott at her most melodically inventive, with a chord sequence that never quote does what you expect. Abbott says that John Lennon is her biggest influence, but the piano chords here sound unmistakably McCartney-ish. There’s also a hint of Pink Floyd’s dreamier moments in many of these songs, while you also get the impression she has a not-wholly-suppressed soft spot for musical theatre. Less successful are the shouty songs. The fuzzy rock out 'Victim of My Imagination' was doubtless immense fun to record, with drums that thrash away and guitars feedback recklessly, but, while her pop songs are gloriously unselfconscious, this makes you think of glum teenagers in long sleeved t-shirts. I was one of those once, but it’s a time best forgotten. But, as so much of this album is so likable – and Abbott’s attitude to her music so seemingly unpretentious – I’m prepared to forgive these occasional excursions. The abiding impression of this album is that it is exactly the album she wanted to make. Admittedly, there’s nothing here that couldn’t have been done in the 1970s, but it was recorded at home on an 8-track after all.

Track Listing:-

1 If Everything Was Up to Me
2 Woodpigeon Translation
3 Hard to Sleep
4 All Skies Are Blue
5 Unfathomable/First Light
6 Victim of My Imagination
7 Love's Transition/Spinning Off My Axis
8 Winter's Over
9 Time
10 If You're Happy and You Don't Know It
11 One More Glass
12 A Year to Remember

Band Links:-

http://www.rosieabbott.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/rosieabbottfa
https://twitter.com/rosiejabbott
https://www.reverbnation.com/rosieabbo
https://www.youtube.com/user/rosieJabb
https://plus.google.com/11560534182450