(Inertia/Heinz)

Singer-songwriter with a schizophrenic effort

Massachusetts-born China Forbes sits at an odd angle in singer-songwriter purgatory. The album purports itself as folk and thus I scratched my head in confusion as harmless dinner pop formed the first half of the record. Remember Dido? Like her. Her voice was fine, the arrangements suitable. Production was so squeaky clean and the songs so nondescript that listening to it seemed more or less the same as not listening to it. And then with the appearance of the title track at the halfway point, the entire modus operandi of the album shifts. One’s interest is suddenly piqued with a nice horn line and acoustic guitar, the more restrained approach eliminating sticky pop sheen in favour of mood. You Were/ I Was repeats this feat with an effective looped backing track and subtle touches of banjo allowing Forbes’ voice to stand out. So we have a redundant first half and a strong second half – I don’t know what happened to Forbes between track five and six but it worked.

MICHAEL PINCOTT

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