Grey Will Fade - Charlotte Hatherley

In this humble reviewer's opinion, the best thing about Ash from 1997 onwards was their guitarist and part-time vocalist Charlotte Hatherley, but it appears that no-one got away with upstaging front-man Tim Wheeler. She was reportedly "asked to leave" the band back in 2006, after writing her first solo album ("Grey Will Fade", the subject of this review) - this ironically with the full support of the original trio. Their loss, ...
...the publicity or popular acclaim her undoubted talent deserves, Charlotte has however carved out a nice little niche for herself with two reasonably successful solo albums to date and a clutch of impressive singles therein. Despite this lack of impact, 2004's "Grey Will Fade" was lauded at the time by some critics and fans of her work in Ash were eagerly waiting to see what she'd deliver on her own.

No worries on that score ... more

In this humble reviewer's opinion, the best thing about Ash from 1997 onwards was their guitarist and part-time vocalist Charlotte Hatherley, but it appears that no-one got away with upstaging front-man Tim Wheeler. She was reportedly "asked to leave" the band back in 2006, after writing her first solo album ("Grey Will Fade", the subject of this review) - this ironically with the full support of the original trio. Their loss, fans of female singer-songwriters' gain. Whilst she's never seemingly gained the publicity or popular acclaim her undoubted talent deserves, Charlotte has however carved out a nice little niche for herself with two reasonably successful solo albums to date and a clutch of impressive singles therein. Despite this lack of impact, 2004's "Grey Will Fade" was lauded at the time by some critics and fans of her work in Ash were eagerly waiting to see what she'd deliver on her own.

No worries on that score - Charlotte's debut came out of the starting blocks running, full of bouncy, jaunty little songs full of intended (or not) nods towards 1990s girl/guitar bands such as Lush (one of the author's favourite bands from that decade) or the Go-Gos. Along the way, you picked up on the fact that her occasional spiky guitar work actually sat well behind her bitter-sweet vocal harmonies, but that there was still some room for improvement - in my opinion, that came with the follow-up, "The Deep Blue", a more rounded, fully-fledged album. "Grey Will Fade", in contrast, seems easier to dip in and out of, rather than listen to right the way through. It's not that anything's particularly hard to digest on its own (apart from maybe "Down", which throws the pace of the album off-kilter a little), but at times there seems to be so much going on that you need time to take it all in before the next musical ride starts. You don't need to be a fan of Ash to like this album - in fact, you could probably hate them and it would still work.

Time for a listing of the tracks on "Grey Will Fade", then:

01. Kim Wilde
02. Rescue Plan
03. Paragon
04. Summer
05. Down
06. Stop
07. Where I'm Coming From
08. Why You Wanna?
09. Bastardo
10. Grey Will Fade

"Too good to be true" - not as far as I am concerned. "Kim Wilde" was released as a download-only single from the artist's own website but in my opinion was the best candidate for song of the album as opposed to "Summer" which instead received a proper release. To say that it is "catchy" is something of an understatement, yet this mad-cap construct definitely creeps up on you. Charlotte deceives the listener with a sweet, tuneful, intro, which soon however gives way to the jangly guitar and sweeping keyboard combination, complete with multi-layered backing vocals, that constantly keeps the song driving on. Given the title, one cannot help draw similarities to Kim Wilde's vocals - they're actually uncannily similar in places, and there's even a "kids in America" nod contained in the lyrics. There's only one pace from start to finish - and that's frenetic, yet her vocals remain as sweet as the intro and they ironically don't seem hurried at all. If you've bought the album thinking you're going to get Ash-lite, or a collection of B-sides, this will make you think again. As a showcase opener for the album, though, it works a treat. "Summer" may well be more coherent as a whole, but "Kim Wilde" is far more powerful.

"A little charm can only get so far" - well, Charlotte proves she's not just some one-trick pony with a noisy guitar. After the frenetic opener, "Rescue Plan" changes the tempo to much more introspective but it still does its level best to confuse the listener with a blistering amount of chord changes. Rather surprisingly, these intricacies also deliver an effective backdrop to Charlotte's sometimes simplistic but never jarring harmonies. Beyond that there is a wonderful extended guitar break leading into the uplifting climax - just in time for the next change in pace, and boy, you'll need the warning.

"I wanna do something that has merit to it" - "Paragon" blasts the senses from the get-go, grabbing you by the throat and refusing to let go, a real adrenaline rush of a song that features thumping drums and sharpened vocals, each word almost being shot from Charlotte's mouth rather than sung. This should be a car-crash of a track but again it has the capability to surprise - I shouldn't love it but I do, especially the latter half which includes a much more in-tune set of choruses and conversely, a screeching, wildly out of control finale.

"Open the windows, Serotonin and the vitamins C, D and E" - yes, "Summer" includes one of the more unlikeliest words ever to feature in a song but then this track doesn't really play by established rules. The continuous guitar/piano combination buries itself quickly into your subconscious before you realise it, whilst the sudden changes in pitch keep her vocals from blending into the background. Said piano might sound "plinky" in isolation but it's well in keeping with the quirkiness merrily abounding elsewhere - especially towards the end when it all goes off on one, any semblance of an orderly conclusion dispelled in favour of a never-ending series of guitar chords and jarring breaks. An obvious candidate for "the" single from the album, however, despite my reservations as to whether "Kim Wilde" lost out on publicity.

"There must be something to be found, because all I am right now is down" - "Down" does initially strike something of a bum note, a speed hump in the racetrack that is "Grey Will Fade". Not that it's a bad song, mind you - it's actually quite simple, mellow and fairly soothing to listen to in a welcome fashion after the breakneck pace you've endured previously, despite its obvious depression-inducing lyrics. Coming on the heels of the first four tracks, you actually welcome the change in pace, although this is a good place to stop the CD, do something else for a bit then return and listen to the second half.

"A rocket, a blazing trail of orange" - "Stop" certainly does blaze a trail from the beginning, complete with a wailing guitar wall reminiscent of "Duke's Travels" on Genesis's "Duke" album - released twenty-three years beforehand. This track doesn't feature wildly conflicting chords - well, not promiscuously - so it could be classed as one of the most consistent songs on the album, but even it drifts off line when it thinks you're not paying attention, threatening to soar off into the clouds at any given moment. Only Charlotte's distressed, industrial-paced vocals manage to ground it in any shape or form.

"I'll give you something to chew" - "Why You Wanna?" provides food for thought, a tantalising glimpse into what Charlotte Hatherley would provide in her follow-up album "The Deep Blue" four years down the line. It's a remarkably balanced track given what has preceded it, full of lovely if a little abstract-sounding vocals plus a harmony that entices you towards each new verse. Ultimately, however, it falls between the stools already laid out on this album - it's not mellow or frantic enough to lift its head above the bar she's already set elsewhere here.

"Big mistake, falling for a first class fake that left me for my guitar" - "Bastardo" scores big time in both the arrangement and lyrics departments. An amusing tale of a one-night stand where her low-life lothario walks off with her prized possession, it's easily the most enjoyable track on the album in terms of putting a smile on your face, and very nearly shades "Kim Wilde" for my favourite track. The upbeat sound almost conjures up a late 1970s TV advert for Jackie magazine (and the video - see it on Youtube - to this song does little to dispel that notion), whilst the chorus will rush into your brain so quick it'll make your head swim. At the core of the track is a really simplistic-sounding set of lyrics - sung in a spiky, punk-like fashion well in keeping with the sparse yet jaunty and very effective guitar backing.

The sparse CD inlay only contains the lyrics to the title track, but the others are widely available on the Internet.

"Grey Will Fade" might well be complicated, but it's never convoluted and is well worth a listen anyway. If you're not afraid of free-wheeling arrangements, quirky changes in tone, chord and pitch, and prepared to suffer all of this to find the gorgeous hooks and odd little touches beneath, then you'll be surely beating a path to the versatile Charlotte Hatherley's surprisingly accessible debut album very soon. 

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