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Melanie Garside shows her chops again

Nobody | 12/03/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Formerly Nottingham dread-hair brit punk girl, pretty Melanie Garside has been kicking around under various band and individual names since the 90's and certainly has the talent and experience to be better known. I'm not so certain that adopting the stage name "Maple Bee" is going to help in that regard, it's kind of silly really, what's wrong with her real name?



This solo album is a long way from the thrash of Tabitha Zu, and consists of a mix of rock and acoustic ballads, her voice varying from a less quirky Kristin Hersh ("No Place") to a breathy Bjork ("I Want"). That you can pick out and assign her vocals by influence could be considered a criticism I suppose, but all these songs are pleasant, and her voice very fulfilling in a sexy girlish way that belies her age.



Not everything here is a clone of Hersh, "Sleeping" opens the album in kind of a techno rock mode, and "This Face" is a power pop departure, more what I'd to hear from her in the future (although she sounds like a mix of Kirsty Thirsk and Hersh on parts of this song as well). "Quiet" threatens to verge on big country pop.



Check it out, very competent and entertaining. Pick up "Chasing Eva" as well, a somewhat more goth/techno CD I like very much, her voice (sounding like Tori Amos channeling Sneaker Pimps) tends to soar and pierce there more than this somewhat subdued set. Good stuff."