Wanted to point out how she appears to have deliberately made herself look like one of the backing band in the “Addicted to Love” video, but I sense the pic isn’t really backing me up…
[Video][Website]
[5.00]
Alex Macpherson: On one listen, Anna Calvi’s debut album is intriguing, at least in the context of the godforsaken Sound of 2011 list, though not particularly memorable. “Jezebel” isn’t on it — a wise decision, as pitting herself against Édith Piaf tips Calvi into overblown, parodic territory; a West End stage take on the gothy songwriter and way too close to Florence for comfort.
[4]
Kat Stevens: Woe unto the female British solo singer! Over the last decade the country has exhausted its supply of reality show mega-balladeers, obnoxious kitchen-sink chatterers, flame-haired hippy ingenues, delicate pastel-washed electropoppets and bratty oiks with beehive barnets. Britain has every right to be as utterly sick of quirky women in pop as it was of boybands by the end of the 90s. As powerful as Anna’s lungs are, I doubt Flamenco yodelling is going to change that.
[4]
Martin Skidmore: Throaty gothy singing — think Patti Smith and PJ Harvey — over overly fussy music, strumming and violins, almost flamenco and spaghetti western in places. There’s a forcefulness to it, I guess, but it all sounds too muddy and miserable for my tastes.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: I could live, I think, in a world where everyone idolizes Edith Piaf or maybe just Society of Imaginary Friends. Bumped up a point because everyone else is gonna hate this.
[7]
Jonathan Bogart: Despite Siouxsie being on every single Myspace Music list of influences I’ve ever seen, it’s not easy to find someone who actually sounds a tenth as glamorously removed. This is a very serviceable imitation of the Banshees ca. 1981, with a touch of florid orchestration that gives away the Italian. I’m not sure I buy it, but I like it.
[8]
Jer Fairall: Not unlike that Zola Jesus track that went largely unloved ’round these parts a few months back, this is an choppy mixture of gothy, lo-fi and classic pop elements that don’t quite snap together right. The difference, for me at least, is that the Zola song is redeemed by its singer’s genuine melodic and dramatic conviction, where this just feels like a collision of things that don’t work, like a Shirley Bassey 007 theme as imagined by one of Jack White’s wanky side projects. I don’t hate this, necessarily; its oddball ambition is sorta endearing. I just find it rather unpleasant to listen to.
[4]
Doug Robertson: It stands out only in terms of what’s around right now, not what’s gone before, and unless a coveted spot on Clint Eastwood’s iPod is your ultimate aim in life, it’s hard to see why anyone’s bothered making this.
[4]
Zach Lyon: Well-executed, entirely disposable genre exercise.
[4]
Tom Ewing: Awfully stagey, but that comes with the Gothickal territory really — and I think this mix of early-60s rock and fake blood has something, even if the bellowing chorus confuses projection with presence. There’s a Marc Almond vibe to it, that same kind of velvety theatrical decadence.
[6]
John Seroff: Anna Calvi’s gothic virtuoso schtick is nicely polished and well executed but, perhaps unavoidably, layered with pretension and breathy cabaret drama. All it takes is one listen to Frankie Laine’s driven and lively fifty-five year old “Jezebel” to render this later trip to the well unnecessary.
[5]