She Makes War - Brace for Impact
In her own words, resolutely DIY multi-instrumentalist Laura Kidd has been making “gloom pop” under the She Makes War banner for close to a decade. With fourth album Brace For Impact she may have made her masterpiece.
The previous albums have been emotional, highly-charged and, yes, sometimes downbeat and dark. Based on her posts on social media, Laura is in a happier place now than in earlier times but the music is still as emotive, beautiful and powerful as ever.
The first few songs are reminiscent of the Manics at their best - less densely wordy, without ever really sounding like the Manics but hitting the midpoint between the “difficult” Manics of The Holy Bible and the anthemic, stadium fillers of Everything Must Go. Elsewhere, there are hints of Eels, Mercury Rev, Nirvana, Dubstar and Portishead.
Each of the previous albums had some truly great songs but that quality was not maintained for a whole LP, with songs sometimes dipping to the merely good. That is not the case here – there may not be anything as drop-dead stunning as, say, Scared to Capsize but even the weakest track on Brace For Impact is within a hair’s breadth or two of being brilliant
Buy this. Better yet, head to Epic on 24th October for SMW’s gig and buy this from Laura herself. Go on, you won’t regret it.
9.5/10
