mon 23/12/2024

Album: Polly Scattergood - In This Moment | reviews, news & interviews

Album: Polly Scattergood - In This Moment

Album: Polly Scattergood - In This Moment

The enigmatic musician's third album takes listeners on a gently experimental journey

Through a glass darkly...

A decade ago, Polly Scattergood was Mute Records’ newest, most-likely-to signing and, while she never crossed over like similar unconventional female artists of the period (Bat For Lashes, St Vincent, Anna Calvi, etc), she has a developed a cult following.

Where her previous two solo albums combined vaguely Björk-ish gossamer vocals with a delicately smudged take on electro-pop, In This Moment, no longer on Mute, untethers itself into artier territory. Enjoyment depends on how far the listener is willing to follow her.

One notable difference from what came before is a tendency towards spoken and sung-spoken vocals, poetry whispered, filmic visions, notably on “Sphere”, the opiated-sounding “Pearl” and the title track. It is literate, allegorical work, reflections perhaps on Scattergood’s life in the wake of having her first child, very specifically so on “Bloom” (“You are the miracle of existence/My entire solar system”). There are some great lines amongst it - “He puts out a cigarette on the table/Grinding it out like a charcoal star” – but a shortage of actual tunes.

Scattergood’s musical styling centres on the piano, but around it are built swirling soundscapes, fuzz, skittering, ambient noise, echo, sonic moods spun from life, especially on “Fire” which features, yes, a crackling fire. Her voice, spooked and sometimes child-like, flits about amongst all this, as do occasional orchestrations, such as on “After You”, which aims for the ethereal. The seven minute opener “Red” is quite something, a highlight, building and building, layering images and sounds.

If, however, you are after songs that stick, rather than an overall mood piece, the last three numbers are where to head. “The End Was Glorious” is the best thing here, an enigmatic tale sung over rolling drums, with a catchy chorus, but “Avalanche” and the balladic closer “Anchor” are gently involving too.

Scattergood is capable of material that balances the exploratory with the catchy. Her onDeadWaves album with James Chapman of Maps, especially, is superbly engaging. With In This Moment she asks us to go on a less immediate journey that has one toe in the modern classical experiments of Hauschka, Matti Bye and the like, and less interest in the traditions of pop and rock. It is a fine-spun and woozily fractured affair, an esoteric addition to her canon that fans will find their way back to, as it slowly reveals itself.

Below: Polly Scattergood performs a persuasive, stripped back, lockdown version of "Red" in her attic

Add comment

The future of Arts Journalism

 

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters