In a sense, I’ve been waiting for this album for almost six years. Ever since Charlotte joined Ash she’s had a hand in the songwriting, but it’s been a very small hand. In fact, her contribution more accurately resembles the tip of a little finger than a hand.
She’s had the odd credit for adding words or melody to an album track, but Tim Wheeler continues to dominate Ash’s songwriting. This is a shame, as many of Ash’s best moments have come from collaborations – “Projects” marries Wheeler’s lyrics to a Hamilton/Hatherley tune, and is magnificent (and McMurray’s propellant “Submission” is untouchable – interrupting Ed) – but if that’s the way he wants to run the band, that’s his business.
Hence, Charlotte’s own songs have been deflected to B-sides. These have always shown great promise, and I’ve always made the effort to seek them out: “Taken Out” and “Gonna Do It Soon”, both from the Nu-Clear Sounds period, were enjoyable, juddering blasts. The second CD of “There’s a Star” showcased another side to her skills with a sweet, Lush-eqsue number called “Grey Will Fade”.
And now that track turns up on this, Charlotte’s solo debut. The timing of this album is bizarre: originally scheduled for late last year, it vanished from the schedules following some early promotion.
Now it turns up in the wake of another well-received Ash album, which seems an odd decision. Is Double Dragon hoping that it’ll sell a few off the back of Ash’s return to the public eye?
Perhaps it’s a necessary manoeuvre, but in a fair and just world it wouldn’t be. This is a wonderful record that is more than capable of standing on its own. There’s nothing especially clever about it, it’s just great.
Charlotte has moved on from her early, grungier efforts; her time in Ash has given her a keen appreciation of how to fuse her agitated guitar work and love of irregular time signatures with pure pop.
In the midst of young upstarts trying their hand at the guitar-pop form, this album comes from nowhere to make many of them look utterly flat. It’s very accomplished and well-constructed, suggesting that Hatherley’s secure day-job with Ash has given her the time and space to consider the contents carefully.
It is, quite simply, the most addictively playable album I’ve heard all year. It takes on Wheeler at his own game and it arguably wins: her summer anthem (the cunningly named “Summer” a wonderfully nervy account of wanting to feel in a good enough mood to go out and enjoy it, while “Kim Wilde” bolts Pixies riffs onto a synth-pop stormer.
In its artful yet unpretentious way, Grey Will Fade is a genuine album-of-the-year contender.
By Eddie Robson