Listening to this single for the first time, I came out with a blank bit of paper. I literally couldn't think of anything to write about this. I suppose my spider-sense should really have been tingling: stuck across the CD case is a little rosette proclaiming this the "Ash Howes Radio Remix", whilst the b-side is the ever-essential filler of choice, a fucking instrumental.
Putting aside the mind-bogglingly pointless exercise that is marrying a single in instrumental form with the single (there was even a point on that accursed version of "Tonight" when I seriously thought that my CD player was broken, so little was actually going on), it should have warned me that what we have here is a release of a very basic nature. Nell Bryden's voice is pleasant and has a nice range, but hardly what I'd expected, having read other reviews and PR blubbing ("warm", "rich", "belting" all pop up), whilst the music is reasonably light, countrified pop, complete with fiddle and bar-room piano.
As is to be expected with anything daubed with the dreaded "radio remix" warning, the sound is shiny, tinny and seems to have cotton wool woven into its very fabric, so soft and inconsequential is it. The lyrics, a throwaway tale of an eight-year old girl playing with her dolls proportions concerning a night out with the beau, are nothing to write home about either ("Tonight, tonight/pick me up at ten/and we'll arrive/fashionably late again") but it's still better than listening to the b-side. Maybe that's why it was included, in the same way that standing next to a measurably uglier person dramatically improves your chances of pulling.
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For those looking to check out the latest artist to be hailed as the next big thing for the Radio 2 crowd, perhaps her album would be a better start.
Nell Bryden on MySpace
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