CD - Paloma Faith - Would You Like The Truth Or Something Beautiful?

Reviews, By Movieboy2, 27th October, 2009

Paloma Faith has already gone down well in the UK, and now it’s our turn to get a load of this part Spanish, part English singer. Although, Faith’s kooky, glam image and background as a burlesque performer probably raise expectations a tiny bit higher than are met by this debut album.

Faith is the latest in a long line of girls tagged as ‘the new Amy, Duffy or Adele’ and indeed, there are shades of all three here.

The lead single, Stone Cold Sober, comes first. Seek it out if you haven’t yet heard it. It’s striking, it packs a punch, and it’s an old-school foot-stomper with a great big chorus and a belting brass section. Retro and modern all at the same time, with a bit of Aussie airplay this calling-card will probably be the reason a lot of people buy this record. But the big question is – does anything else here measure up? The quick answer is – almost!

Faith has a writing credit on all 10 tracks and there is definitely a common style that permeates them all. We’re not in Kylie-territory here. This is not a grab-bag of songs from a disparate bunch of scribes, desperately hoping for some sort of unity. There is real consistency here – a ‘sound’ to the whole thing, whether we’re listening to a funky banger or a smouldering torch-song. It’s clearly aiming for a sixties vibe and in some cases it very much hits the mark.

Track three, Broken Doll, could easily have come from an original Sandi Shaw album. It’s sugary sweet and played absolutely straight instead of aiming for a tongue-in-cheek kitsch vibe. And that’s one of the strengths of this set, it often genuinely does sound like the sort of pop music that was being recorded 30 years ago.

Paloma’s vocals are strong throughout, although, we have come to expect nothing less from the current set of Brit-girls. She’s obviously giving it her all, belting out the big numbers with real confidence and showing off those impressive lungs whenever there’s a key-change.

Musically, it all works too, with strings and the afore-mentioned brass often at the front of the mix, just where it should be for this sort of thing. I bet she sounds great live and we’ll soon have the chance to hear for ourselves, as she’s scheduled for a number of dates over here in coming weeks.

There’s one stinker in Stargazer. An insipid ballad that would sit very comfortably on a Kids From Fame LP from the early ‘80s, and I don’t mean that in a good way. But overall, this is a pretty good first effort from a performer who will only get more interesting as she sells more records and is allowed to indulge her outré sensibilities.

The press blurb makes a lot of her slightly offbeat style. She’s a big fan of Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam and she claims to have been inspired by David Lynch and Billie Holiday, all of which makes her sound a wee bit more interesting than this record actually is. There’s a slight sense of her veering a bit close to the mainstream here, although, that could just be because what she does happens to be in fashion at the moment.

Definitely a talent to watch out for and if you like that fantastic first single, you’ll almost certainly appreciate at least some of the other tracks.

Paloma Faith, Would You Like The Truth Or Something Beautiful? is out now through Sony.

Paloma is performing at the Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, November 2. Tickets are $25 and on sale now.

Watch Stone Cold Sober here: