Friday, September 4, 2009

Kate Miller-Heidke's album "Curioser"

"The Last Day on Earth" has been growing on me this week. I met Kate in 2002 when she was still at university singing opera, we hit it off at a Golden Keys networking evening. I remember talking about what made a hit song a hit. Looks like she figured it out before me. Anyway, the fact that our meeting stuck in my head all these years with no further contact tells you something about the impression she left on me. She was beautiful, charming, confident, and geniune. The songs on this album on the whole reflect that person, and it's always the writing that comes from ourselves that's the most compelling, not the writing that's just an exercise. "Caught in the crowd" and "The Last Day on Earth" are the most personal. songs on the record, and the hits so far. "Our Song" is also very personal, and the only acoustic track. "I Like You Better When You're Not Around" is a low point on the record, where she stoops to petty condemnation and character assassination. "God's Gift to Women" isn't much better, but has a bit of humour in it to offset the negativity. "No truck" almost falls into the same trap, but doesn't, and the best bit is the end of the song where the band all rock out. "Motorscooter" and "The End of School" are good, clean fun. Nice. "Can't Shake It" is about being rubbish at dancing and is also heaps of fun. "The One Thing I Know" is a love song with oomph. Not a bad choice for the first track, but I think I'd have preferred one of the fun tracks. The biggest problem with this collection of songs is that they're all so different stylisticly. Also, the record as a whole, like most, never develops any bigger themes, or refers to itself. I've told you what I think's good and what's not. Listen to the previews and read the lyrics on the internet....then cherry pick the songs you like.

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