Grey Will Fade

by

Charlotte Hatherley

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Imagine if The Go-Go's, Melissa Auf der Maur, Throwing Muses, Weeping Tile and Crowsdell-era Shannon Wright all contributed DNA to produce a musical progeny, and you'd have some sense of what Charlotte Hatherley's solo album is like. She is bound to surprise more than a few fans of Ash, for while Ash's music is also very well written, catchy and appealing, it's nowhere near the level of weirdness of Grey Will Fade.

The one steady element is Hatherley's girlish voice, a likeable if unspectacular punk-pop voice perfectly suited to Ramones-style songs. If Hatherley has a limited voice, though, her technique is superb, with an especially appealing vibrato and a real sense of how to inhabit the lead vocal. The arrangements and songwriting, however, are all over the map. When I'd first put on leadoff track "Kim Wilde", I got lost in the labyrinthine time changes and modulations...and then found myself humming what I could remember of the tune for the next two weeks. A madcap pop masterpiece, to be sure, with thick blankets of guitar, a crashing beat and a deliciously cheesy keyboard line. And when was the last time you heard a pop hook with the word "juggernaut" in it? Certain songs are reminiscent of Lush and Sing-Sing in their moody melodicism, such as the seductive "Rescue Me" and the gorgeous wash of "Where I'm Calling From". "Stop"'s bizarre, discordant wall of sound is almost like Melissa Auf der Maur's solo record, and lead single "Summer" is a beautifully harmonized midtempo cooker with a killer stop-start chorus. The closest this album comes to carefree pop styles is the vintage Go-Go's beats of "Paragon" and "Bastardo", and even then, Hatherley's lyrics are far stranger than any of the above. I gotta hand it to her, because she manages to craft some darned catchy lyrics despite the eccentric wordplay.

All the name-dropping just points to how complicated a listen experience this album is. Of all the above, I'd say Crowsdell is the best comparison -- idiosyncratic, freewheeling pop music with ingenious arrangements. The hooks and melodic songwriting make this record accessible, while the peculiar touches keep repeated listens interesting. Grey Will Fade comes strongly recommended -- if you can find it.

With legs slightly splayed and an air of absolute cool, guitarist Charlotte Hatherley has always made for a splendid visual alternative to fellow bandmates Rick McMurray (the fat bespectacled drummer) and Mark Hamilton (the drunken blotchy bass player) when on stage with Ash. Her first solo recording away from the band is gallant, but hardly likely to see her leave Ash in favour of individual rock pursuits. Perhaps the English lass has forgotten the backlash against the slacker sounds of female fronted Britpop bands such as Sleeper, Echobelly and Elastica, but it's really no excuse to dish out this domesticated dose of tunes. Kicking off with UK single Kim Wilde (less fun than its poptastic `80s referencing name might suggest), Grey Will Fade finds Charlotte offering a light - and at times almost fragile - vocal that belies her heavy rock leanings in Ash. The erratic arrangement subtly indicates Hatherley's fear of failure: a feeling of `my first burst could be my last gasp' prevails as the guitarist kicks through as many chord changes as possible in Kim Wilde, although follow-up track Rescue Plan is a slower ride that works a little better. Triple J has taken to Charlotte's tune Summer, and it isn't too much of a stretch to see why. The vocalist has taken a leaf out of main Ash songwriter Tim Wheeler's book on this tune, with her inflections and guitar sequences uncannily reproducing the pop nous of Ash's classic Oh Yeah single without as much success. On tracks such as Stop and Why You Wanna?, no amount of vocal layers, chugging progressions and lyrical sweetness can conceal the fact that this is a pretty uneventful - and perhaps even conceited - affair, yet with Bastardo the storm suddenly breaks and the rainbow appears. Channelling the Pixies with a Spanish vibe, a Kim Deal style of backing vox and a hint of Tony's Theme in the lyrics, Bastardo is the clear highlight of Grey Will Fade. Breaking away from the monotony to tell a tale of a cad named Antonio, who not only upped and left the delectable Charlotte after a hot night of rampant sex but also half-inched her guitar collection, Bastardo is a late saving grace on an uneventful debut. Time to get back to writing Ash b-sides, young lady.