Tamara Schlesinger
The Procession
(Tantrum)
London quintet 6 Day Riot are not what their name suggests – more nu-folk pop than hardcore punk. Likewise, this debut solo album from their ukelele-wielding frontwoman won't be exactly what fans are expecting. Schlesinger picked up funding from Creative Scotland before heading into the Gorbals Sound studio in her native Glasgow to create something that's idiosyncratic in a New Age style. Her a capella voice is the heart of the matter: looped, double-tracked, harmonising with itself, and creating its own backing support through the heavy reverb of chirrups and sighs. Beneath this, the guitar, strings and percussion instrumentation is subtle indeed. At their best, songs such as Find A Way and Again cleanse like the shower in a spa, while others, notably the oriental mantra of Yai Yai and African blues shimmer of Can You See Me, stretch out beyond UK shores. Everything is crafted with Kate Bush precision and delivered like a low-key Florence And The Machine. How it works in a live environment can be weighed up when she plays Stereo on August 15.
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