Polly Scattergood:
Polly Scattergood

Polly Scattergood

Label: Mute






Polly Scattergood's debut record really begins and ends with the initial track. "I Hate the Way" begins with electronic chatter and percussion and Scattergood begins to recount her boy troubles in her very best Beth Gibbons. She realizes that she's in a relationship that, while not maybe outright abusive, might be one she could do better than. Polly "bleeds each time" this ne'er-do-well kisses her and he promises that he'll never break her and that he's nothing like her father, ostensibly not a good parent. Sound like fun so far?

So distraught at her lover-man's ambivalence at her want to feel attached to him, Polly has taken to seeing a doctor, one that's prescribed not only the pills she might be abusing before bed every night but also has suggested she need to sing a happy tune. "Do do do do do do," Polly sings desperately, wishing someone she could count on would come home to her. Taking several little musical turns of varying degrees of drama, "I Hate the Way" ends on Polly's breathy vocals, underlining once more her doctor's advice.

It's just a false ending however, as the girl we've spent the last four minutes feeling sorry for has now started speaking tensely over fractured electronics about crash dieting and feeling jealous of the girls in the porn that her boyfriend watches. Scattergood is able to make us appreciate this poor girl's emotional doldrums - maybe even make us feel sorry for her, if we can accept the archness of all the "pills" and "happy tune" talk - before unexpectedly make the same character seem dangerously paranoid.

Scattergood, hailing from Essex, England (Wikipedia tells us that "Essex Girl" is the Brit equivalent of America's "Jersey Girl"), has mentioned in interviews that she'd written as many as 800 songs while coming of age. Upon hearing this, I can't help but think that at least a handful of them must be better than the remainder of Polly Scattergood. Front-loading the record with such a significant punch as "I Hate the Way" does the rest of the recording a tremendous disservice, in two ways.

First, of course, is the fact that nothing else can match that original impact. "Other Too Endless" rides a pleasant rhythmic drive but, once more, Polly starts singing about pills and "Closing [her] eyes/ So [she] can't feel." "Please Don't Touch" is a cloyingly jaunty attempt at pop and "I Am Strong" has the dubious distinction of reminding me of Donna Lewis' 1996 mega-hit "I Love You Always Forever," a song I was fine not thinking about for 13 years. Scattergood has also said in interviews she's much more a lyricist than she is a musician; this shows in the lack of interesting arrangements or melodies.

Secondly, after the bare-naked pathos of the record's beginning, each additional mention of Polly's fragile emotional state makes the album sound a little too personal for casual listening. Scattergood hasn't earned that level of interest from us yet. Instead, the record comes off like the wild-eyed girl that's cornered you at a party, talking entirely too much and asking what you'll be doing together next weekend.

by Chris Middleman