Review: Lauren Sherritt
Welsh singer songwriter Cate Le Bon’s quiet, haunting tunes featured on her debut album Me Oh My will follow you for a long time after the CD finishes playing. Filled with melancholy lyrics, soft repetitive choruses and a darkly ever present awareness of mortality, this album is about as far away from pop as you could get.
Cate’s claim that she only ever writes songs in the dark is indeed accounted for in the lyrics on Me Oh My. Phrases such as “I fought the night and the night fought me/Knocked on the door and used its key” (Me Oh My), “Eyes so bright they just steal the night” (Eyes So Bright) and “It’s just baby I’m headed for the black” (Sad Sad Feet) pepper the album, which holds a resigned heaviness for its entire length.
The gravity of its subject matter can make Me Oh My difficult to listen right through in one sitting, though luckily each track can hold its own well. Cate is obviously talented at expressing narrative through her lyrics, tracks such as “Digging Song” and “Sad Sad Feet” taking the listener on a whimsical, haunted journey. Her play with repetition throughout the songs does well to enhance the ghostly, echo-ey quality of her voice.
For the most part the tracks are arranged very simply with Cate’s singing over basic guitar melodies. Occasionally the band kicks in with a bit more intensity, which providing a welcome, upbeat change. The album as a whole can seem a bit monotonous, though lovely, and in the future it would be interesting to hear Cate push her vocals in some different directions.
With this album the debut for label Irony Bored (brainchild of “Super Furry Animals’ ” Gruff Rhys) it is obvious that Cate Le Bon’s talent has received the recognition it deserves. Now, with this recognition and a whole lot of attention coming from Me Oh My, it’s time for Cate to show us just how far her talent can stretch. This album leaves you wanting more from the young artist, in the best kind of way.
http://www.catelebon.com/