onDeadWaves - onDeadWaves
8/10
onDeadWaves is fruit formed out of collaboration 'twixt English singer-songwriter Polly Scattergood and musician James Chapman, he of Mercury Prize nominated Maps. Released on their conjunctive label Mute, this ten track debut drifts into middle ground, with Scattergood's breathy vocals floating ethereally above a stratosphere of meandering melody and layered tonal imagery. The result, though, becomes one of tragic beauty tinged with darkness, rarely permitting either hope or happiness to break through.
Opener Blackbird conjures like an ominous prelude, with portents breathing over languishing guitars, hints of malevolence rising like an Angelo Badalamenti film soundtrack. Never Over hints at broken plans and shattered dreams whilst muted drums rumble in the background. Even California paints a bleak canvas before hopeless ambition lays down a desperate trajectory in Hollow. The inclusion of the Yves Montand classic Autumn Leaves laces the narrative with further poignancy.
Yet this album has an addictive beauty that sucks you in, like a peaceful acceptance of what might have been. Jupiter questions the diamonds beyond the truth, but it is Winter's Child that ultimately cuts loose, acceding to those titular dead waves.
A powerful coupling of talents, and a brilliantly atmospheric debut.
8/10
