Cate Le Bon - Pompeii
"A quagmire of unease" doesn’t sound like the optimal creative seedbed, but for her sixth album, Welsh singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Cate Le Bon has turned the doubts and uncertainties of the past 18 months to her advantage.
The pandemic scotched plans to record in an exotic locale, and instead saw her holed up in Cardiff, in a house she’d lived in 15 years before. There, in isolation with long-term collaborator Samur Khouja, she fashioned a mercurial and intriguingly playful, yet woozily melancholic alt-pop set, which explores existence, resignation and faith in characteristically oblique lyrics.
Echoes of John Cale, Roxy Music and Talking Heads can be heard in these nine elegantly odd songs, as well as Japan’s 'city pop' scene of the 1980s. They’re driven by prominent bass lines, but rely on saxophones and a vintage synth to convey emotion. Highlights are difficult to pick but include the languid 'French Boys', which suggests Brigitte Bardot’s 'Contact!' reinterpreted by Felt, and 'Wheel', where a piano melody with an alluringly simple, see-saw lilt is underpinned by deep-water bass. It was born out of difficulty and doubt, but Pompeii is a singular triumph.
Out now. Label: Mexican Summer