Album Review : Eliza Doolittle - Eliza Doolittle
- Written by Gilda and Les Femmes Noires
Riding on the recent crest of wave of talented British female singer-songwriters, Eliza Doolittle has burst onto the UK music scene filling the gap vacated by the likes of the newly, surgically-enhanced Amy Winehouse; the too-long absent Kate Nash and the ‘re-born as’ vintage boutique-owner and mum-to-be, Lily Allen. Still, Eliza graces us with her presence alongside Marina & (her) Diamonds, Ellie Goulding, the effervescent Florence & (her) Machine, and the equally exuberant Paloma Faith.
By adopting the same moniker as George Bernard Shaw’s feisty, flower-girl heroine from his Pygmalion novel, Eliza Doolittle ensures our allegiance - by way of nostalgia – to her brand of classic ‘60s and ‘70s pop with a contemporary twist. Listening to the album makes it difficult to digest that Eliza’s still only 21 years old and has been writing songs for almost 10 years; there’s certainly an incongruity between her talent as emergent songwriter and the scrappy, almost pubescent, hippie-chick persona she wears with such panache. Speaking of songwriting, Eliza’s somewhat alternative/philosophical musings on life takes shape in songs such as the jaunty and melodic ‘Moneybox’ and the two-stepper, ‘Police Car’. It’s also clear that her musical influences are diverse as evidenced in ‘Rollerblades’ which sounds like a paean to The Kinks’ ‘Waterloo Sunset’, and current hit, ‘Pack Up’ is reminiscent of some ‘60s Caribbean, dancehall-inspired Blues party.
Despite her whimsical appearance, one suspect that Eliza has more in common with the stuff that breeze blocks are constructed from than her appearance belies. Raised in inner-city London, Camden to be precise, (the same borough that spawned the ‘illustrious’ N-Dubz) you’d need to have developed rhino-thick skin early in life to cope with the ‘stresses of modern city life’ that she eloquently writes about in ‘Moneybox’, ‘Rollerblades’, and ‘Police Car’. Inner-city blues aside, Eliza Doolittle, the album, surprisingly runs the gamut of breezy pop borrowing vocal stylings from Lily Allen on ‘Nobody’, Lynsey de Paul (70s pop singer-songwriter and pianist) on ‘Mr. Medicine’ and Rickie Lee Jones’ (70s US singer-songwriter) on ‘So High’.
Ultimately, Eliza Doolittle boasts a sound that’s ‘indisputably fresh’ and is chock full of classic pop songs that in time could enter the pop Hall of Fame with the likes of offerings from such acts as: The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Elton John, and even the aforementioned Rickie Lee Jones whose beautiful and melodic, ‘Chuck E.’s In Love’ featured on her eponymous album. Eliza is obviously a talented young lady (she managed to fit in a DJ set at an East London music venue last weekend despite her hectic schedule) who produces proper pop music, unlike the drivel that passes for ‘pop’ these days. Fortunately for us, Eliza was born into a musical family (Eliza’s mother is a singer, and her father is a pianist) where being surrounded by various genres of music 24/7 had a distinct advantage, resulting in Eliza Doolittle the eponymous debut.