The Sound Of The Summer
She’s been swaying around the outskirts of popstardom for some time now, but as Summer 2010 truly descends, so does Eliza Doolittle and her new single ‘Pack Up’ along with her debut album “Eliza Doolittle”.
Hot off the heals of supporting roles for the likes of Alphabeat, Jamie Cullum and Paloma Faith, Eliza’s music lilts welcomingly into our lives like the lingering kiss of a warm summer breeze – her eclectic style is completely incomparable to anything else, because everything you compare it to pails in comparison.
There have been a lot of links to Lily Allen, mainly because of her softly lilting cockney voice and occasional choice of choon-style (think ‘He Wasn’t There’ and you’re a third of the way there), whereas the rest of her sound is a mix of acoustic jazz, ska, soul and pop, with just a hint of indie chucked in for good measure. Influences run far and wide, from Fleetwood Mac, through The Beach Boys right up to the likes of Radiohead, all at the same time as managing to make a sound that is utterly fresh and unusual whilst sounding like a timeless piece from a 1960′s stage musical, if not before.
The sound is summer. There is no possible other way to describe it. She manages to captivate the season with her perfectly jaunty, bubbly ditties in the same way Enya’s music will always be winter, and the Sugababes will always be autumn.
The album is a delight from start to finish – absolute high-point is her current single ‘Pack Up’ – it’s bold and brassy and blissful, and manages to take marching song ‘Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag’ and use it in a way which sounds neither gimmicky nor rubbish – it just sounds lush!
Beyond that, and previous very-very-good single ‘Skinny Genes’ – the albums top products are ‘Moneybox’, ‘Police Car’ and ‘Mr. Medicine’, with Fleetwood Mac-influenced and all round pretty song ‘Missing’ taking the second top spot as best song on the album.
Low points? Well there aren’t really any. Sometimes the lilting style turns into a meandering plod, like on ‘Rollerblades’, which means it may be listened to less than some of the rest of the album, but aside from this the album is perfection.
