"Even When You Play It As You Like It"

Siobhan Donaghy: 

Revolution In Me

A little over a decade ago, the Sugababes' first departure resurfaced with her solo debut. It's an interesting album considering when, how and why it was made. 

In a recent interview, Siobhan has suggested that the reason she (and possibly Mutya Buena as well) recorded solo records after leaving the Sugababes was due to not being able to do anything else. The genesis of the group and the recording of One Touch essentially displaced their education. In fact, One Touch was high school for them!  

Revolution In Me could then be considered Siobhan's uni/college years. It certainly feels rooted in the growing pains of young adulthood. In many ways this record is the successor to One Touch. It is very tempting and a little unfair to see it this way but in hindsight, the lineage is clear. Cameron McVeigh served as executive producer for both records, providing creative continuity with the first line-up of the Sugababes. What Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan learned about making music, they learned form him. So many songs on Revolution in Me feel reminiscent of the Sugababes. One hears a similarity to Mutya in Siobhan's lower register. One expects Keisha to float in with  her heavenly ad-libs and high notes. None of this is to say that Siobhan's voice is in any way inadequate. Here, she demonstrates her ability to carry an album by herself. Later on with Ghosts she took her talents even further. It's merely that the connections to her past are so strong, they cannot be ignored.

The main theme of this album seems to be young adulthood and emerging identities. The navel-gazing of adolescence gives way to a greater perspective. Revolution in Me's first single Overrated is an overcast, guitar-driven song about wanting to come out of depression. Twist of Fate, the second single, is less a break-up song and more an expression of disappointment. Iodine, my favourite song on the album, would have been Siobhan's Christmas single. It's a rootsy earthy song that skirts political themes and evokes animal farming  to forment a sense of doom. Man Without Friends continues with the rootsy feel but adds a bit of bounce. As You Like It is quite possibly the most Sugababes-y song on the album: a mid-tempo urban pop song with a dark tone. The vocals combine high and low notes in a similar way to what you'll hear on Overload. Another song which recalls the Sugababes is a B-side, Those Anythings, very relaxed and jazzy track that would fit into the score of any film-noir. XY is a more quirky, left-field song inspired by human genetics. Faces is a more laid-back built around a steel drum melody. Little bits is one of the more stygian songs on Revolution in Me. It describes a sort of descent, into what is left to the interpretation of the listener. I would say it describes a toxic relationship, the kind it's all to easy to slip into when one is young.

The early 2000s were a very odd time and this rather odd album fits in with my recollection of those years. Revolution in Me is eclectic and throbbing with sad restlessness. A worthy follow-up to One Touch, it introduces us to Siobhan as a solo artist in her own right.

"That was all it took my dear..."

Mutya Keisha Siobhan 

One Touch, the Sugababes

Girl groups have been around for generations now. There's something universally appealing about  three to five young women harmonizing about love and heartbreak. The main genre associated with girl groups is pop music. And it's not just any old pop music, but the most saccharine, contrived and manufactured type of pop.

Enter one of my favourite exceptions to the above rule: the Sugababes.  In the year 2000, three London girls debuted their very first single: "Overload". Later on that year, their debut album One Touch came out. It is a work that has only grown better with time. Eclectic, mature and effortlessly cool, I've yet to find its like in any other girl group debut.

I find that the best pop music has something else going on. It's a little difficult at first, refusing to yield anything of itself until I've heard it several times.  It tends to be the kind of song that holds up nicely years or even decades later. One Touch is full of those kinds of songs.  Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy made a powerfully soulful combination.

It is astounding to me that this album was co-written by people so young. It feels like peeking into the diary of a teenage girl; but a teenage girl with depth.  At times full of attitude and at others  wistful melancholy, One Touch captures the ephemeral nature of growing up. It's a collection of moments when one realizes that the world isn't what it seemed and that one will never be the same.

"Overload" really is in a class of it's own as far as Brit-pop is concerned. I consider it to be the definition of Sugababes: their sound, their vibe, their identity. In the context of the kind of pop music we were getting in 2000 on both sides of the Atlantic, the song was like  a breath of fresh air in a coffin. "Overload" gave us this amazing blend of  chill vocals, electric guitar and amazing beats that was a good deal more alternative than what you would expect from a trio of girls in their mid-teens. It's mid-tempo which, time would go on to show, is where the Sugababes shine.

"New Year" is my favourite Holidays song. It describes the sorrow of running into an ex. soft and sweet on the surface, it betrays a depth of hurt that always makes me wince by the second verse. It's the musical equivalent of crying softly in the bathroom at a party so that no one else can hear. Again, the girls' youth comes into play here; the song is clearly from the perspective of someone going through this for the first time.

"Run For Cover" is just a little more heartbreak. As someone who's struggled against depression, I find it to be an apt description of what that feels like. Specifically, it recalls the shame and reluctance to talk about it that makes depression go undiagnosed so often. Keisha Buchanan supplies the lion's share of vocals here and she delivers them with beautiful fragility.

The title track "One Touch" is an interesting take on first love. Directly addressing a parental figure, the song's point of view defends her first relationship. A very relaxed down-tempo allows the girls to fill each bar of the song with richly layered harmonies making for a cool pleasurable listen.

The rest of the album continues to please. "One Foot In" and "Promises" chastise a two-faced paramour. "Look at me" again addresses a parental figure about the fear of growing up.  'Lush Life' is a moody, atmospheric bit of hip-hop that keeps its grit all these years later. "Just Let it Go" treads familiar ground for a girl-group, reassuring a friend that the latest ex isn't worth it.

Later iterations of the Sugababes had their charms and virtues, not to mention their fair share of great tunes. But with each departure of an original member, something essential was lost. It is an understatement to say that these three are magical together. Now, 13 years after One Touch, the girls have reformed under the name of MutyaKeishaSiobhan. Listen to their first single "Flatline"

"Off I go singin' a different tune."

Siobhan Donaghy
Ghosts.

One of the best albums I have ever listened to is Ghosts by English singer-songwriter Siobhan Donaghy. Released in 2007 when Donaghy was just 22, Ghosts retains its quality seven years on.  It is no less than a work of craftsmanship that, unlike most pop music, actually demands the attention of its listeners.

Watching and reading interviews from that time, one gets the sense that recording Ghosts was a very intense experience, emotionally and creatively. It was certainly one of isolation. The album was made in the North of France with producer James Sanger. Cloistered from media and the then current pop climate, Donaghy was free to choose her own influences and direction.

To be honest the album took a while to grow on me. I did not know what to make of it, having only known of Siobhan previously as the girl who sang "Overload" in the first incarnation of the Sugababes.  Not living in the U.K., I'd had no awareness of her solo career until I stumbled on the music video for "Don't Give it Up", the first single from Ghosts.  From there, I slowly got to know her post-girl group output. Suffice it to say that I fell in love with almost everything I heard.

I can't think of many other recording artists who release a concept album at 22. The sheer creative  ambition that Donaghy shows here is nothing less than inspiring.  The thread that holds the album together is intensity. Themes of struggle and desperation abound followed by a yearning to overcome. Genre-wise, I would classify this as a sort of dream-pop. The sound of Ghosts vary from oneiric and ethereal to frankly nightmarish.

One extraordinary piece of nightmare-pop is "Medevac", a powerful account of producer Jame Sanger's struggle with heroin addiction. In this, Siobhan delivers her most arresting vocals on the album. The whole thing rises to an incredible crescendo before being snuffed out like a candle.

On the oneiric side of things we have the title track "Ghosts". Distorted and weird, the vocals are recorded backwards for the verses.  The chorus is very Lord of the Rings "...sworn under an oath to war,". "Halcyon Days" is gentle slumber of a song that soothes the wounds of previous tracks. "Goldfish"  is an aqueous number that stands out as the album's most metaphysical entry. "Coming up for air" is an introspective song that mulls over the task of not being miserable for a change. "There's a place" is a heartfelt declaration of friendship and support that manages to avoid being even a little saccharine. "Don't Give it up" is a direct offer of encouragement to someone who's suffering, with neither pity nor judgement.

It's not all doom and gloom however. The somewhat country "12-bar Acid Blues" shows a wry sense of humour and an endearing wackiness. "Sometimes" is reminiscent of Kylie Minogue at her best and should have been considered as a single, in my humble opinion.

There is also a pair of 'relationship-y' songs on Ghosts. "So You Say" is a glorious guitar driven song where the two sides of Siobhan's voice are showcased quite nicely: the soft-spoken side and the belter. "Make It Right" is a song about culpability and hindsight, taking blame instead of casting it.

Siobhan's musical collaboration with Sanger is beautifully framed by her visual collaboration with photographer/director Floria Sigismondi. The artwork accompanying Ghosts fits the other-worldly tone of the album perfectly. Siobhan is presented as a beguiling, slightly distorted figure.

In a day and age where so many albums amount to a couple of singles padded out with filler, Ghosts is a welcome relief. It stands as an example to any aspiring recording artist of what's possible with the right combination of creativity and integrity.