Sometimes the smallest things can make you love something even more. Amongst the series of press platitudes adorning Nerina Pallot’s debut album is one quote that stands out. “This really is quite good, even if it isn’t Celine Dion”: Nerina’s mum.
Bang, there you go, an instant winner. Happily, what happens inside is equally as loveable. The record tears out of the traps with the feisty ‘Everybody’s Gone To War’.
The sound may be of a sunny, polished West Coast rock disposition but the content is much more weighty – “I’ve got a friend, he’s a pure bred killing machine/I knew him well when he was 17/Now he’s a man he’ll be dead by Christmas.”
Sheryl Crow it ain’t. Well, actually it is a bit. Just Sheryl Crow with a social conscience.
The album works so well because it takes the basic singer-songwriter premise and loads it up with a group of musicians including Jellyfish’s Roger Manning and a whistle and bells production from the likes of Howard Willing (Smashing Pumpkins) and Wendy Melvoin (Wendy & Lisa).
Pallot’s voice is gorgeous, with more than a hint of Edie Brickell about it, and she handles both louder and quieter material well. Indeed, it’s the latter where she really shines, the contrast with the full band tracks working nicely.
Occasionally its grip on your concentration does lapse, usually when it heads into more familiar territory. Fine, it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but this is still a very solid debut – even if it isn’t Celine Dion.