Album Review by EDF
Odd one this. At times sounding like Macy Gray’s younger sister or two cats fighting outside the window, Lucy Mongrel’s music is best described as expecting the unexpected.
MEET IN THE STREET begins like a mix of David Byrne and Paul Simon until the vocals kick in. Sounding like a young girl going na-naa-na-na-naa after kicking dirt in your face, the chorus is sung with deeper vocals revealing that Lucy has a range of vocal styles and is quite possibly going to mess with your mind for the rest of the album. WHO’S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED? has elements of Folk and World Music as Lucy’s heartbreaking questions are looking for simple answers to the shameful discovery. DON’T CALL IT TOO LATE has hints of Latin Jazz which will surprise you as there is no warning to what direction the track will take you during the first minute of the song. I haven’t a clue what she’s singing about though. CIRCLE THE WAGONS is explanatory enough for anyone who has ever watched a Western movie. This one sounds like a group of people sitting around the ole campfire, singing tales about harder times.
QUICKSAND PASSION sounds like Delta Blues meet raw sex and it has been a while since anyone’s tried that sort of combination. LIVIN’ THE BLUES starts off with various sticks and timber been moved or knocked over and it turns out that there is actually a strange rhythm being beaten out. Then when Lucy starts singing, she sounds like she’s turned into a fly. Very bizarre indeed. PAPA LEGBA with its Latin feel has one of those choruses you can’t help singing along with. Of course, this being a Lucy Mongrel track, the song bizarrely turns into the Jim Morrison poetry recital minute halfway through the track before reverting back to the sing along chorus.
So let’s see if you get this straight – Lucy Mongrel’s album is bizarre, original, exciting and at times puzzling. You don’t know whether Lucy is trying to find her musical style or if she has found it. There is more imagination going on here than there are from most other artists. Of course, any album featuring a Bagpipe and Bodhran is cool in my books.
One thing though, play this once, go away, play it twice more and then make up your mind. Definitely worth your time.
