Song(s) of the Day # 2,626 Anna Fox Rochinski

 My thoughts on listening to Anna Fox Rochinski while clearing my flat a couple of days ago:

I had never hear the name Anna Fox Rochinski before a few days ago when the usual sources started to herald the arrival of her debut album Cherry. She's from the Quilt stable which was a promising initial sign for me as Quilt was also the starting base for Olden Yolk, one of my favourite bands of recent years.

Cherry sounds very little like Olden Yolk. Altogether less immersed in the Sixties, (barely a hint of that decade here), and perhaps more tuned into the Eighties although there are echoes of contemporary artists too, notably St. Vincent. It's perhaps an album that struggles to make an absolute impression and statement of its own but it's not an unprepossessing record when it steers away from the spot the influence arena. 

If I had to mention one artists from the past that this seems to veer towards, I'd have to say that it's probably Annie Lennox. While I'm no rabid, Eurythmics fan, I liked a few singles , thought Love is a Stranger was a small classic and was indifferent to much else, this consistent reminder as Cherry ran its course was by no means an unpleasant one.

This was a record that wiled away a quiet hour while I was spending a day of staggered flat cleaning. It was an album that never irritated me, but never really grabbed me particularly either like not disimilar recent releases by Jane Inc. and Floatey have done recently. 

These two seem to have slightly more going on under the surface than Cherry does. Partly could I couldn't feel much coming at me lyrically that grabbed me or seemed to warrant further investigation. Hey, my formative music years were spent in the early Eighties when this kind of chart fodder that seemed to be ten a penny. Artists that had a lot less to offer than Eurythimcs. Blue Zoo, Howard Jones, Fiction Factory, The Fixx.

Still, I'll give it further plays to see if it creeps up on me. I certainly wouldn't want to discourage anyone from listening to it because it has an admirable pop sheen and I did wonder on first listen whether I was missing anything. Only one way to found out I guess.