SCOUT NIBLETT
Camden’s oh-so-cool Too Pure Records seems convinced that Scout Niblett is the next big thing. She’s been on tour with Sleater-Kinney and Cat Power, and had Steve Albini work on her album. They’ve pretty much set her up to be the new PJ Harvey, and are convinced that this is the album to do it. It’s pretty clear that this album isn’t for everyone.
Several songs just consist of her voice and a guitar playing the melody she’s singing; it’s certainly not for the Mars Volta fans amongst you. There’s a lot of light experimentation - while there aren’t any of the ukuleles from her last album, there are plenty of drum solos, and it’s not unusual to hear one bar repeated 16 times. When this minimalism works, it does so dramatically.
The excellently-titled ‘Safety Pants’ mostly consists of her voice over handclaps, with occasional drums. On paper, it shouldn’t work, but the repetition of the line “Come on honey, what are you doing to me?” is haunting and effective. ‘Wolfie’, on the other hand, tells more of a story, but while Niblett’s voice is still very exposed, and the supporting guitar line is quite varied and inventive. More often than not, though, this minimalism doesn’t work.
I tried to enjoy this album, but apparently I’m just not sophisticated enough to understand exactly why it’s brilliant. It’s not the musicianship, since all the instruments are played to a barely mediocre standard. It’s not the creativity, since Cat Power’s done everything on this album before. It looks like, while Scout Niblett has her moments, she can’t live up to her hype.
19th May 2005