This one caught us on the hop as Carol sent the album over the day before the digital release, but there is still a physical version heading your way at the end of January. So technically we’re still getting this up before the album is “out”, at least in a way which will actually benefit Carol more than the 17p she’ll get from Spotify…
Carol is our favourite seven-fingered singer-songwriter (ittedly a niche field), and we’ve seen her a bunch of time usually gravitating around a certain Mr Ginger Wildheart. Her music is eclectic, punky, often heartfelt, and always enjoyable. EffortLess InSecurity ticks all those boxes.
I mean, you’re two songs in and you’ve had the abrasive “Manouvers” followed by the baroque, rocky, singalong “Gimme a Break”. Two songs different enough that they could have come from two different artists, let alone two different albums. But, no, they’re back to back on one slab courtesy of Ms Hodge. Then we have the slow, lilting “I’ll Do The Begging” just to rub it in your face that you’re listening to someone who writes and performs whatever the hell she likes.
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“Small Crumbs” and “Queen of Fitting In” were released as singles (check out the former below), both great choices to give you a flavour of what to expect especially given that they themselves couldn’t be more different from each other!
The wonderfully downbeat “Drowning Rocks” gives way to the rockier “Temporary Interlude”, with “Last Day ” sitting somewhere in between with a slaw pace and distorted guitars. “Oversized Bag” has me thinking of something between The Beatles and Elton John, before the simple, heartfelt “Ever Reliable Pain” closes the album off.
This is another quality release for Carol to add to her pile. Varied, but with great song writing and performances throughout, there should be something on here for everyone who likes the more radio-friendly end of the material we cover.
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EffortLess InSecurity is out now to stream, or on CD/vinyl on January 31st (order it now)
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