Joni Mitchell once dismissed the descriptor “female Bob Dylan” because it implied her music had to be viewed from within a category. Mitchell’s refusal to be reductively pinned down prompts questions as to whether context is important when discussing the merits of music. Sure, details of circumstance can be useful for getting your head around something, but at the end of the day the music itself will be the loudest speaker.
So, with very little context in the frame, let’s think about Montgomery’s six-track EP New Clear War. Montgomery places her slightly wistful vocals over minimal pop electronics. The production – kind of a homespun take on new wave R&B – is well thought out, but rarely more than supplementary. Seeing as this is pop songcraft, that shouldn’t be a major vice. But the songs largely lack a spark of personality, which has you looking elsewhere for the deal-sealer.
Montgomery’s vocals have naïve appeal, but without juicy melodic hooks or a sense of adventure they come off somewhat inert. This failing is compounded by her adolescent lyrical interests. A chief culprit is Jailbreak, which includes this application for most embarrassing lyric of the year: “You keep telling me I’ve locked myself in bars / While you’re still planning your next move for living on Mars.”
New Clear War does contain a couple of memory-rubbing singles. Lead single Pinata is armed with penetrating hooks and becomes tough to shake from your head, but it doesn’t sustain on an emotional level. Otherwise things are either a tad dreary or underdone. As a result, New Clear War starts to drag by the time track six rolls around.
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
Best Track: Not Around
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: CHVRCHES, PURITY RING, COLDPLAY
In A Word: Half-pie
