So, we live in a world of near instant stardom created on a whim by our King of Saturday night music with everything packaged with computer precision under the bright stage lights. Then you look into the twilight and that's where you will find Louise McVey & Cracks in the Concrete.
There are no three minute pop songs here for Ms McVey is a chanteuse of the old school. She turns words into stories for the night people and she sings of what is to be found in the shadows of your soul.
The songs here entrance you. "Maud" speaks of the forlorn beauty that accompanies longing and loss all the way from the fragmented minimalism of the intro to its surprise demise while "Night" is an impatient, nervous song punctuated by fractured guitars that brings forth dystopian visions, cracked mirrors and thoughts of a life lived permanently in the shadows. It's a song that can only be stopped by the dawn. In comparison, "Ode" is a strident guitar driven assault on your ears before Ms McVey's insanely cool siren voice points us towards the highway of the damned and "Love Lust Tales" evokes visions of movies flickering in black and white projected on an old sheet in a long abandoned house. Every nightmare needs a soundtrack, after all.
The smoke clears. Was it all a dream? An enchantment born of a night in the urban jungle? There's a voice on the wind. Men fall in love with torch singers. These four songs are the reason why.
Available on vinyl from Metropolicana Records.