Categories : Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 3.5 / 5 Reviewer: Nathan Atnikov |
In some ways, Kate Nash’s sophomore album is a lot like her debut album. She’s obsessed with sex and complicated relationships; she likes to sing about girls she hates and boys she hates to love; and she sings in an occasionally distracting mockney accent. In other ways, My Best Friend Is You shows monumental growth. There’s an impressive variety of different styles here, and even if Nash tries something that doesn’t quite work, the trying is admirable rather than embarrassing.
Made of Bricks was compared relentlessly to Lily Allen, and rightfully so. But on Best Friend, Nash finds a voice all her own. She alternates between girl-group (‘Do-Wah-Doo,’ ‘Kiss That Grrrl’), drone-rock (‘I’ve Got A Secret,’ ‘I Just Love You More’), and Kimya Dawson-esque uber-sincerity (‘Take Me To A Higher Plane’). And somehow, all of these come off relatively well. Even the ideas that don’t work, like ‘Mansion Song,’ sound like ideas rather than missteps.
Closing the proceedings is ‘I Hate Seagulls,’ a slow and mournful lament that still appropriately comes off like a 22-year-old complaining about minutiae. If nothing else, Kate Nash knows exactly who she is.
