Someone to Drive You Home

It's time for one of my periodic attempts to catch up with the current music scene and take a chance on some albums based on their critical appraisal. First to get a listen is Someone to Drive You Home, by a band from Sheffield, England called The Long Blondes. One of the reasons I got this record is the cover art, which evokes a neat pulp novel, film noir feeling (and turns out to have been painted by the band's lead singer, Kate Jackson).

The Long Blondes are a bit of a throwback to sixties' pop, but also are very reminiscent of Pulp, since it was produced by Steve Mackey, bassist for that band. They also have a bit of a punkish, new wave sound. I thought they sound a bit like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs crossed with Sleater-Kinney. The songs are all very catchy, with heavy bass lines.

What is perhaps most intriguing are the lyrics. Ten of the twelve tracks were written by Dorian Cox, the lead guitarist and a male, but sung by Kate Jackson, a female. This gives the album a kind of pansexual flavor. The opening track, Lust in the Movies, shouts out affection for 1960s' film icons Edie Sedgwick, Anna Karina, and Arlene Dahl, but when sung by a woman it takes on a different connotation. The same is true on the following track, Once and Never Again, which is a rollicking number but about the singer advising a young woman: "Nineteen, you're only nineteen for god's sake, you don't need a boyfriend." Turns out that the girl is being emotionally abused by the boyfriend, and the singer wants to make a move: "I know how it feels to be your age, Oh, how I'd love to feel a girl your age." Given the lyrics written by a male/sung by a female angle, the album could come across as something of a lesbian manifesto, but not knowing enough about who the band members are that could be over-analyzing.

The sexuality of the lyrics aside, this is a terrific record. In addition to those two songs I liked Separated by Motorways, Heaven Help the New Girl (about a woman warning any future women about her ex), and Madame Ray, which is about the photographer Man Ray. The songs are smart and infectious, and I'll be listening to this album quite a bit.