Fumbler's Café

Katie Melua has a new album out, or about to come out.
Katie's been very popular for a few years, but never appeared on my radar...until now (my fault - I'm sure her earlier stuff is nice, it just never grabbed me - maybe it was a bit slow or too bluesy for me).

This new album, The House, is produced by William Orbit, which implies a lusher sound and perhaps a new direction with more variety.



Well "The Flood" is the first single, and this is seriously entrancing stuff. It shifts midway into an almost-disco feel which might be a bit misplaced, but the beginning and end is full of soaring strings and middle eastern undertones. It's interesting and evocative...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E4-9yKTv_I

http://www.katiemelua.com

You should also try this - an official medley of 2min samples of 5 tracks from the album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09WMGgkmowI

I think the closest comparison for me, is Goldfrapp.

Thoughts?

cheers,
Rob.

Never heard of her before but listened to the demo and was mildly surprised. She has a slow nice pace with a strong voice. I like it even though she is new to me.

WOW!!! <---- my reaction to "The Flood". I've liked Katies music since her second album but this is perhaps the best thing I've heard from her yet. I also love the strange almost gothic darkness of the video. This really is sheer brilliance and I think I will be buying the CD soon! I still love Nine Million Bicycles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTy3WA0Pq8M) though, such a sweet song *sigh*

Thanks Rob you really have the best tatse in music!

Thanks Ben
For anyone interested, you can now listen to Katie's entire new album, "The House", right here...

http://ilyovmp3.com/2010/05/20/katie-melua-3/

The Flood is very good! Thanks for posting the link. I'll check her album more carefully!

Glad to hear you liked it

I've listened to the whole album now. Let's remember that Katie is a jazz-influenced artist, and her style will probably only intersect with what the "typical" Sarah listener will like *sometimes*. In fact, she traverses a number of different styles through this album, some you will like, some you may not.

So, the tracks I would recommend are:

- "I'd Love To Kill You" - a slow, dark ballad of sinister lyrics.

- "The Flood" - as described above.

- "The House" - the deepest and most ambitious track. A little bit epic, and a stunning way to end the album. Listen to it twice. On the 3rd listen, I was getting shivers. Definitely my favourite now.

(You can hear them all on that link I posted above)

William Orbit's influence on this album is only light, I would say - delicate touches here and there, leaving Katie's voice still very much at the forefront. It's not an album of glorious ethereal electronica or anything But it has it's moments. Try before you buy.

Rob.

I am a fan of Katie since I heard her sing Crawling Up A Hill, which is still one of my favourite songs (together with Spiders Web).
The third album, Pictures, did not do much to me, but her new album has brought some new gems.
My favourites are The Flood, Plague of Love,Twisted.

2nd single and video from the album, titled "A Happy Place"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCdRA0lQq38

I wish we could just embed Youtube videos here, rather than link to them. I think if flash was turned "on" for this message board, it might work? One of the mods would need to look into that.

Rob.