/Polly And The Billets Doux Album Review

Polly And The Billets Doux Album Review

Album Artwork
Album Artwork

 

Fiction, Truth, and Downright Lies
Released on August 10th.

Parents can be so entertaining sometimes, especially when they catch you listening to review C.D’s and decide to add in their own commentary. I won’t print what was said about this C.D, but it made for a funny start to the day. Anyway, moving on, when this C.D arrived through the letterbox, I was immediately struck by the album artwork. Photographing a rather unique looking sculpture is definitely the way to get the listeners attention. The question now is, will Polly, Andrew, Dan, Ben, and guests be able to ignite my interest in their music as well. The answer: well it’s yes and no really.

To get the critique out of the way first, I did find some of the backing vocals in tracks like ‘Don’t Trouble Trouble’, weak, and generic in equal measure. Although it’s entirely subjective, the subject matter in songs like ‘I Would Ask’ didn’t really bring forth a torrent of opinion either. In truth, at points I felt a bit indifferent to what I was hearing, though as they say every cloud has a silver lining.

‘Follow My Feet’ was a lively intro to the album, combining a little old school funk guitar, with some up-tempo country melodies. Polly’s vocal is very easy to listen to, and like the bands music is a mix of modern indie, and the sultry/gravelling tones of artists from days gone by. This song leads nicely into the slower, more reflective ‘To Be A Fighter’, which has some lovely lyrics/phrases such as ‘memories made of steel’. Also on the album is the Jazz ballad, ‘Charmed’, with it’s old fashioned melodies. It actually reminded me of films like the Titanic, and the entertainment they had on cruise ships back in the day. Then there are songs like ‘Back To Earth’ which veers away from the funk/blues, and roots itself more firmly in the Americana/Folk genre. This is the type of song you’d chill out to on the beach, or put on at the end of a party.

I can see why this is a band that have slotted into the quirky, and very British, festival scene so well, and there is a certain charm to this Anglo-American influenced C.D. I’d just like to see the weaker points ironed out, and a little more of a modern twist, to make it more original. Not as interesting as expected, but still worth a listen.