Some records are able to grab a listener's attention for the simple reason that they sound exactly nothing like anything else on new release racks at that particular moment. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but the catch is that after the album has managed to steal its way in, it has to have something about it which holds the attention of listeners and captures their imagination. that is the part which proves to be a little more difficult to negotiate, but Nouela Johnston has it cold and easily on her solo debut album away from People Eating People, Chants. With dense arrangements in the vein of Bjork but a haunted soul which simultaneously calls to mind Amanda Palmer, Nora Jones and Jolie Holland, Nouela can easily catch the attention of pop audiences on her own without the help of her "other" band, but there's also an unusual, captivating X factor which guarantees that they'll be held inevitably, inextricably enthralled.
Noela's spell is cast the instant “Joke” opens the the album, leading off with a sound which is so hauntingly clean and pristine that it's possible to hear the natural reverberation of the piano being played bounce off the walls of Red Room Recording studios in Seattle, WA and the weight of the fingers hitting the keys and the speed at which the mallets are hitting the strings within the instrument. It sounds a little unsettling when it's spelled out like that, but listeners won't be able to stop themselves from being drawn in by this perfectly naked and candid introduction which feels like a stolen moment and, when Nouela Johnston begins to sing, they'll be perfectly and completely overtaken by the the heart-wrenching delivery of lines like “It's a cruel joke to play/ Honest mistakes will haunt you to the grave.” The crack in Johnston's voice can rend flesh from bone and listeners will feel compelled to fall to their knees sympathetically as they listen to this seemingly spontaneous outpouring but, when they do as “Joke” draws to a close, they'll be knocked ass over tea kettle unawares as “Buckle Down” crashes into them with drums and bass blazing, and piano sparkling above.
In that moment, listeners will be shocked and dazzled and, as they're picking themselves up, they'll find themselves smitten by the girl who just knocked them flat. How could they not? It's not every day that listeners get sucker punched by music so pretty and ornate.
The pretty hits just keep coming too as Johnston shows listeners how harrowing a sound a piano can make and how well her voice can compliment it on “Fight,” how politely she can tell an unfaithful lover to pound salt before admitting that she hopes he'll come back again on “Home” (check out the contrasts between likes like “The best part of you is now long gone” in “Fight” and “Praying to anyone that you'd come home” in “Home”) only to retract it all immediately with “Suckers” (“Give us a rowboat and we'll drown in the river/ Give us a way out and we'll dig even deeper”) and just how fucked up she can make a composition sound without using words (the title track) only to immediately revert into far more urbane climes while still dripping venom (“Secrets” and the lines in it like “I won't call you a monster, 'cause I know that's what you want/ You always get what you want/ Don't want to give you a complex”).
Each of the emotional revolutions which occur per song on Chants are perfect and complete and, because they often sit at odds with each other, they'd frustrating as hell if another artist were to attempt them but, here, each is done with such care, coordination and fluent movement that it's impossible not to want to spin around in circles with Nouela; it's fun and shameful and marvelous all at the same time, and wildly addictive to indulge.
By the end of the record as “Regrets” devolves into poetic misery and sweet, introspective melody, listeners will feel perfectly fine with the idea of collapsing, spent, next to the singer and watching the whole mess swirl down the drain. At the end of Chants, nothing is resolved, but it will seem perfectly reasonable to endure it all again and again to observe Nouela Johnston's playfully angry acts of artifice over and over too. Chants is a fantastic escape in that regard; those who hear it will find themselves waiting on the edge of their seats for when the singer decides to take some more time off from People Eating People so they can act out with her again.
Artist:
www.facebook.com/nouelamusic
www.twitter.com/#!/PEPmusic
Album:
Chants will be released on June 12, 2012 via The Control Group. Pre-order it here on Amazon .
