Hey, this is fun! I’ve just listened to an entire album and not actually hated anything. Going the whole bitter and twisted route is the metier of the reviewer and getting diverted down the road to happiness doesn’t happen that often. However Icelandic singer/songwriter – you just knew she would be a singer/songwriter, didn’t you? – Eliza Newman seems to have interfered with my ability to read a musical roadmap.
For reasons probably down to my defective memory, I had Ms Newman forever associated with the ukulele and therefore to saccharine cuteness. There is indeed a massively sweet song on this album called “Ukulele Song For You” that fits in with my recollections but there is also much more in the way of cleverly assembled Europop too with “Jumping Through Hoops” taking all those aforementioned Euro pop influences and using them to set off in hot pursuit of classy Scandinavians like Sofia Talvik.
Whilst there is a lot of plastic used in the construction of these songs and Ms Newman’s vocal delivery does tend towards the clinical, the resulting feel – how scientific is that? – of the album is curiously warm and fuzzy in that sentimental non threatening way that often wins the hearts of middle class males.