First albums - much like first impressions - can be misleading. "Breaking The Spell" is Nuala Dalton's first album and it did a pretty good job of diverting me from its true purpose.
Ms Dalton sings with a voice that evokes both the hippy trippy moments of sixties' folk singers and the more urban sounds of a post punk princess like Lonelady. In addition - and it might seem an odd thing to regard as a positive point - her songs have a distinct awkwardness to them that balances out the pointed worldliness of the lyrical content. Maybe that approach brings a kind of reality to the proceedings that they would otherwise lose? Whatever way you look at (or listen to it), this is no standard attempt to grab your attention. In fact, there is not much regard shown at all to what a female singer should be doing these days. With no power ballads and no sugary sweet love songs, Ms Dalton presents an independent approach to discordant times. Even the arrangements of the songs tend towards the episodic. Honestly, you really have to concentrate to get the best out of these songs. Listen as the angry guitars swing hard at near psychedelic vocals on "Shape" and as "This Love" swerves on the slippery road to happiness but gets there in the end. The highpoint of the album for me was "Never Lets Me Rest" which is a pretty much perfect depiction of confusion in song.
"Breaking The Spell" is an album that rewards your attention. I had to listen to it several times until I finally figured out that the effect it was having on me - ok, I was a bit confused by it - was most likely deliberate and that the album's purpose was to ask questions rather than answer them. I also can't remember the last time I had to work so hard at listening to an album. Was it worth it? Yes, it certainly was.
Available from Wild Wish Music amongst other places.